Dear Joy · No. 4 ·
Living with new technology, one letter at a time.
I tried AI once and it made more work.
Dear Joy,
Everyone said it would save me time. I asked it to plan a birthday party and spent an hour fixing a schedule for a party of 40 when I’d said 12. Am I doing it wrong?
Joy answers
Omaha, you’re not doing it wrong. You just started with the deep end.
A party is a big, fuzzy job full of decisions only you can make: who’s coming, what the birthday person loves, how much chaos your living room can take. When a chat tool doesn’t have those facts, it guesses, and its guesses can be oddly grand. Hence your party of 40.
Two things help. First, start with a smaller, duller chore, the kind with a clear right answer. Ask it to turn a confusing letter into plain English, or to write a packing list for a weekend away. You’ll get a feel for what it’s good at without losing an hour.
Second, make it ask you questions before it starts. That one change turns a guessing machine into something more like a helpful assistant who checks before they book the bouncy castle.
It won’t save you time on everything. Nothing does. But on the right chores, it really can give you a little evening back. Give it one more small try.
Feel the Joy, baby.
Joy
Start smaller
Give it one small, boring chore first, the kind with a clear right answer: a packing list, a plain-English letter, a shopping list.
Give it the facts
It fills gaps with guesses. Spell out the things that matter: how many people, how much time, what you already have.
Clip and try this
Copy it into the chat app you already use.
Before you start, ask me five short questions about what I need. Then wait for my answers. Don’t plan anything until I’ve replied.
Dear Joy is written by The Joy Daily’s editors. It’s general wellness and education, never medical, legal or financial advice.