How Removing The Phone Draft Feature Prevents Me From Writing

Summary

The author is negatively impacted by Medium's removal of the phone draft feature, which restricts their ability to write during their only available writing time—when their child is asleep—despite having a process for editing and refining drafts on a computer later on.

Abstract

The article expresses the author's frustration with Medium's decision to eliminate the draft feature on mobile devices. This change has significantly reduced the author's opportunities to write, as the only time they can dedicate to writing is when their son is napping or asleep, and they must be present with him. Although the author has a structured process for editing and finalizing their work on a laptop, the inability to draft on the phone means they cannot make the most of their limited writing time. The author acknowledges the potential benefits of the policy change for the overall quality of content on Medium but remains concerned about the negative impact on their personal writing output.

Opinions

The author understands Medium's rationale for the change but disagrees with the decision based on their personal circumstances.
They believe that the best time for writing is when their child is asleep, which necessitates using their phone.
The author has adapted by using phone notes, but this is not as effective as the previous draft feature.
The inability to draft on the phone has led to a decrease in the author's writing productivity.
While the author respects the possibility that the change might improve content quality on Medium, they are skeptical and concerned about the trade-off in their own writing process.

Can we please add it back?!

I completely understand Medium’s reasoning behind removing the draft option on the phone. The chances of quality content being written on the computer versus the phone are likely higher. Unfortunately, it severely limits writing opportunities for me.

The only time I can write is when my son is asleep. Whether it’s his nap or he goes to bed in the evening, he requires my presence so we always contact nap/sleep. Therefore, I write on my phone.

This doesn’t mean that I publish whatever I wrote in the bed. I reserve some weekly time to sit at the laptop, edit, print, proofread, and further review my stories before publishing. However, this time is not sufficient for creating the whole draft itself.

Yes, I do use notes on my phone and do my best to adjust to this new way of writing. But again, after copying content to medium, I can’t use my best time for rewriting, adding more content, and making simple changes, because it’d be on my phone.

At the end of the day, it is safe to say that my writing has suffered. Greatly.

However, if the statistics show that more quality content is being published on Medium thanks to removing the phone draft feature, who am I to complain.

I hope this change is beneficial to the rest of the Medium community so that it doesn't hinder more quality content than it promotes.