What’s the first app you tap when you wake up? Do you head straight to the Gram to post your daily yogurt, berry and grain bowl? Is your first waking breath Snapchatted to the world?
The fact is that these days its hard to take a break from personal brand building and image polishing, meaning that come lunchtime you may find yourself suffering from major burnout or even a minor panic attack.
If all this sounds too familiar then we have some of the best apps out there to help you zone out from the online social milieu, allowing you to relax, have fun or even educate yourself.
Take a Break to Play
One of the best ways of tearing yourself away from social media is with a game, with many designed to train your brain or just to give you that little dopamine fix when you complete a level or conquer a challenge.
If you enjoy games that involve strategy then the likes of Grapefrukt’s Holedown, Texas Hold’em at PokerStars and Pandemic from Asmodee Digital should all provide ample entertainment.
For games that have you reaching for that thesaurus you have tucked away somewhere in your cranium, why not check out Scrabble Go, WordScapes or even the wonderfully named AlphaBear.
Of course, there are times when the last thing you want is to have is your brain whirring, so to help you unwind there are plenty of less mentally taxing games out there. Ones that we’ve been hitting pretty hard of late have been the alluring beauty of Little Wheel and the simple yet no less tempting Bejeweled.
Investing in Yourself is Always a Good Idea
While games are a great way to wile away a few minutes they can also leave you feeling like you’ve wasted time and not been productive. With this in mind, it’s always good to have some other options up your sleeve and educational apps are in plentiful supply.
Some of the best are language apps that can help you learn everything from Arabic to Spanish, so that the next time you’re on your travels you can impress the locals with your newfound skills. For the linguists among you you’ll probably already be aware of Memrise and Duolingo, but why not also give newbies like Mindsnacks or Triplingo a go?
If languages really aren’t your thing and you prefer something more technical, then why not have a crack at coding, which is always a tool that’s useful to have in this digital age. For beginners such apps as Encode and CodeHub are excellent places to start.
Indulge in Total Relaxation
Wellness apps are very much a thing and some of them really do serve a purpose, allowing you to find classes you might enjoy in your local area or even offering up meditation routines, replete with accompanying music and breathing techniques.
If you fancy taking a nap to recharge your batteries, there’s even an app for that called Sleep Cycle which wakes you at the optimal time based on sleep patterns detected by your phone’s variety of movement sensors.
If that all freaks you out a bit, then why not dabble with 7 Cups, an app that allows you to open up to a trained listener or therapist free of charge, meaning you can get all that doubt and worry off your chest.
Total Disconnection
Whether it is to read, write or clear your head, sometimes the only way is to come offline altogether. Luckily, there are some great apps that help you do this such as Freedom which allows you to block certain apps or connections for a set amount of time. There’s also Quality Time, which helps you track and temper your use of the most time draining apps.
