Free time, remember that? Cue a long sigh. But seriously, even students here at Stevens have some form of free time even if we don’t know it. Remember that time you ate? Yeah, me neither. But when you do eat, all that time savoring the food and thinking about it isn’t changing the world or making you better. It’s a wasted opportunity if you do not combine eating with something else like reading or something. Other examples would include the time spent on a bus or waiting for the unreliable (insert any color) line. If we recorded each minute wasted or doing nothing, or even small mundane tasks, in a lifetime, we would notice that we spend years wasting time. If we invested that time into our own livelihood, we would be much better humans as a whole. I am not trying to sound like a Tai Lopez commercial, but I do strongly believe in using extra time for knowledge instead of nothing.
There are many apps out there that we would benefit from by using them on our free time. In my personal library, I have a large folder of apps to use that covers everything from coding, to language learning, to exercise, and to even brain games.
My first recommendation is Duolingo.com. Duolingo, an interactive language learning site developed straight out of Pittsburgh by Carnegie Mellon graduates, offers many languages including French and Arabic. It even offers more unique languages such as Esperanto and Klingon. Users on Duolingo are provided with a set learning plan containing objectives, virtual prizes, and of course, the courtesy email that congratulates you on completing a course section. Duolingo is helpful in the fact that it is offered on mobile devices as well, specifically iOS and Google Play, and that it covers everything from conjugations to greeting etc. Plus, it is available for a price of zero dollars. I, myself, have benefited a lot from it. Je suis tres content de mon temps libre nouve passe. All you need is time, and a will to learn something new on your free time.
Secondly, I highly recommend reading the news in your free time so that you can actually seem like an informed member of our society. I consider myself old-school as far as my methods for attempting to get informed, such as reading a physical paper, or even watching the news. On occasion, now more than ever, I have been using apps such as Flipboard and Pulse to read up on weekly news. Flipboard has been very useful to me because it allows you to select topics and columns that interest you the most, while at the same time, browsing any topics you want. For example, I selected Technology and International as a couple of my main genres, and in seconds, I can explore the world of news from my cellphone. After that, I have the ability to “flip” between articles and save/favorite ones I find very intriguing and/or worth reading again. Flipboard is easy to use and has proven to be a very good thing to do while doing things like eating or pretending to work out. Efficiency! Of course why use these apps when you can just read the Stute for everything.
Lastly, so as to not reveal all of my secrets, are brain-enhancing apps. These apps can include brain teasers, puzzle games, and quick facts that all contribute to having a healthy brain. For those that appreciate a good puzzle, I would recommend Blocks, Flow, and Lara Croft GO. All of these apps provide a very fun and challenging environment where players have to use their critical thinking to achieve victory. While doing a mundane, one-handed task, playing these games prove to spend your extra time affectively and efficiently. Other apps include Chess and Lumosity. I see the content offered by those apps as more than games as they were specially created to challenge the brain in such a way that small games could not ever be able to do. Though Lumosity is a paid application, it still offers value to your mental health.
Using our technology to strengthen our mental skills whiles multitasking with unimportant daily tasks is, in my opinion, the best way to maintain your mind. If we just tried to see our time the same way as we see currency; that is, to see each minute as any amount of money, we would be more wise in how we spend it.
