for we are stressed and mortal and therefore fallible

Um so APPARENTLY former NYT EIC Jill Abramson does not believe in recording her interviews because she has a magical photographic (audio-graphic? whatever) memory and she forgets no words, ever, and it has extremely worked out for her JUST KIDDING.

In response, every media person on Twitter who has ever had stress hives over a non-functional recorder, of course lit up the discourse with just how obsessively the rest of us plebeians rely on that new-fangled thing called technology to aid our memories: Vulture’s Kathryn VAnArendonk has a good thread going here on the specific equipment journos use to record interviews, and even NYT profile queen Taffy Brodesser-Akner weighed in on her methods here.

We at Deez Links also did a quick spot check with a handful of young journos to see what the kids are using these days. Tl;dr, everyone basically uses their phone, and NO ONE uses the Jill Abramson method, because we are all stressed and mortal and therefore fallible!!

I am unprofessional and use either Voice Memos on my phone (for in person) or QuickTime on my computer (for phone calls). But then I have to put the call on speaker. It’s a horrible system. Plz teach me a better way, Deez Links. I know some ppl use apps but I don’t trust them...Also bc then a lot of times the apps have the data?? Unclear. —Madison Feller, staff writer @ ELLE

^^This bad boy (unless I forget it and have to use my phone). I think it said it was almost $50 but I think I expensed it ... I used to record hours and hours and hours of audio per week so I didn’t have room for it on my phone / occasionally I was recording off speakerphone anyway.” —Brandon Foster, managing editor @ Casper Star-Tribune

When I’m doing a pretty basic phone interview, I go into a quiet room, put my phone on speaker mode, and record on my laptop in Quicktime. If I’m interviewing someone IRL, I usually record on my phone in Voice Memos. My little Sony recorder doesn’t get too much use, mainly because I’m a breaking news reporter, so I don’t typically have those long, meandering IRL interviews. If/when I do, you bet I’m double-recording. —Julia Reinstein, breaking news reporter @ BuzzFeed News

I just use the app that comes with the iPhone! My office now has Dialpad too, which lets you record calls. —Emma Court, health reporter @ Business Insider

“My answer is boring cuz I just use my iPhone’s recorder. But I take notes with it too and write down time stamps as reference points. —Nassim Benchaabane, reporter @ St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Also, if anyone would like to admit that they used to put their phone on speaker and cue up Garage Band, let us just say that you are not alone. We did what had to be done.