The Digital Junk Drawer vs. The Intelligent Library

As a dad of two, my physical life is a constant battle against LEGO-induced foot injuries and the mystery of where the TV remote goes. My digital life, however, used to be a pristine cathedral of organized thought. Key word: used to be.

For the last few years, I’ve been a loyal Mem devotee. It was my central database—the "smart" place where all my meeting notes and fractional marketing strategies lived. I loved the "clean up" button. One click, and my messy brain-dumps became polished, professional summaries. But lately, I’ve noticed a ghost in the machine. By stripping away the "filler" and the "mess," I was losing the context—the specific way I talk about a brand or that weird, tangential insight that didn't fit a bullet point but held the actual magic.

Then there’s the Google ecosystem.

For a long time, the Gemini + Workspace integration felt like a "hit or miss" experiment. But something changed recently. I’ve started dumping raw, unformatted ideas into Google Keep. No headers, no bolding, just the unfiltered chaos of a serial entrepreneur’s mind. And here’s the kicker: Gemini doesn't care that it’s ugly. In fact, it seems to prefer it. It sees the threads between a Keep note, a slide deck in my Drive, and a shared PDF from a client in London, connecting dots I hadn't even seen yet.

The turning point? I was wrapping up a meeting the other day, chatting with Gemini about the takeaways, and it didn't just summarize—it automatically created a note in Keep for me. No "clean up" button required, just a seamless transition from thought to reference.

Why I’m giving ChatGPT the "It’s not you, it’s me" talk:

• The Ecosystem Lock-in is Real: With the 2026 integration of Gemini into Apple Intelligence and Siri, the friction is vanishing. If my hardware (Apple) and my workhorse (Google) are finally speaking the same language, why am I paying for a third party?
• Context over Cosmetic: Mem makes things look pretty. Google makes things useful. Gemini's ability to reference my entire Drive history means it knows me—the husband, the marketer, the dad—better than a standalone tool ever could.
• Subscription Fatigue: I officially canceled my ChatGPT subscription at the start of this year. It felt like a bold move at the time, but as a marketer, I know when a brand has lost the "integration war."

I’m still a little confused, and the transition isn't perfect. But for the first time, it feels like the AI isn't just a tool I'm "working with"—it's an assistant that actually lives where I live.

FAQ: Navigating the AI Note-Taking Maze

Why switch from ChatGPT to Gemini in 2026? For me, it’s about context. While ChatGPT is a brilliant conversationalist, Gemini lives inside my Google Workspace. It has access to my actual files, emails, and notes, allowing it to provide answers grounded in my real-world work rather than just general data.

Is Google Keep better than Mem for AI notes? It depends on what you value. Mem is superior for aesthetics and structured databases. However, Google Keep’s lack of "prettiness" actually helps Gemini understand the raw context of my thoughts without losing the "filler" words that often contain the most personality and nuance.

Does Gemini work with Apple hardware? Yes. With the deep integration between Google and Apple (Siri) in 2026, using Google products on an iPhone or Mac has become significantly more seamless, making it easier to justify staying within the Google ecosystem.