Once we just nagged ourselves with handwritten notes. Now our phones bleep constantly with reminders. Overwhelmed with chores and helpful alerts? Get real and start deleting. (Remember: must read this)

It’s funny how to-do lists take on the characteristics of their owners. Illegible handwriting and multiple crossings-out? Looks as though life is spilling over at the edges. Neatly written on a pristine piece of paper? A vision of self-control and restraint. And if yours is full of hysterical punctuation and self-chastisement (“Do NOT forget the milk AGAIN!!!!!!”), it might be time to talk to a therapist.

It seems a shame, then, that these little paper peculiarities are heading for extinction, as a raft of digital alternatives take their place – most of which can be found on your smartphone. Since June 2012, every Apple device running iOS 5 or above – of which there are around 1bn worldwide – comes with the Reminders app. One of the most popular on Android, ColorNote Notepad, has been downloaded more than 80m times since its 2009 launch. There are plenty of quirky offerings, too – Carrot, “the to-do list with a personality”, “hilariously” berates and cajoles you into getting things done – although dedicated to-do apps are just the beginning. They are joined by the emails we send our future selves in a cold sweat at midnight, the calendar reminders that coo and vibrate throughout the day and the tattered paper shopping list we somehow still have pinned to the fridge.