There are only 24 hours in a day. That’s all we have, but there so much to get done, endless To-Do lists, household chores, family commitments, meetings, all of these things make it difficult for us to find the right balance to our life.
Taking a break on a regular basis becomes a luxury, and keeping track of the precious time that is wasted is a whole another story. In the smart world land, there are Apps for that!
Starting off with making your day productive the RescueTime application helps track how much time you spend being productive and non-productive. It’s simple to install an application that runs in the background and produces a report on how much time was spent on what website, how many hours of productivity were achieved.
The application can run for 24 hours but in-order for it to serve its purpose it’s important to set the time schedule for it to switch on and off. That way the user will have a clear idea of how much time was truly wasted during the “working” hours. This app may be a little complex initially, as productivity is relative to jobs, in the sense that while one site may be ‘distraction’ for one user, it may be ‘productive’ for another user.
It takes a few days to customize your settings to get the most accurate results. The beauty of the RescueTime app is that while it helps you become more productive by showing areas of time wastage, it is also helping you “find” time that you can use in other ways like catching up with family or resolving other non-work but significant issues.
In other instances where we are engrossed with work, we need a reminder of taking a break and catering to the special people in our lives. ZeroDesktop.Inc has two Apps that can not only help you but also your children. QualityTime App helps you analyze how much time you spend on what App or accessing your mobile phone. Signing up can be done via Facebook and once the App is on, it will track your usage, the statistics can be viewed on a weekly, monthly, or even daily basis.
It’s best to leave the App on for a few days or week or so, to really understand your pattern of usage. The App does have the option of setting breaks and can be a great use for parents to monitor the cell phone and App exposure of their children. Not only does this App show you what to avoid because of time wastage, but it also helps you understand what Apps you enjoy using, or the kids enjoy using. The ‘Take a break’ feature is especially good; it allows you to digitally unplug yourself from your device for quality time!
The second App is a parenting aid basically. It helps parents to set reminders for children to take a break, block apps, and basically extend control over their child’s smartphone usage. DinnerTime Plus is focused on enabling families to have more quality time. When the whole house is on a routine and is reminded of Dinner or study time or the like all have a sense of responsibility and connection.
This App is controlled by the parent’s phone and sends reminders to the tablet or phone of the child. The equipment is blocked and can’t be used until the time set. It forces the children into conversing with the family. The App is available for both Android and iPhone users.
The one major long-term drawback to Apps mentioned above and others like Checky is the increased dependency on electronic equipment to remind us of what we should be doing on our own at a human level. Being reminded to spend time with family is sad, it might be the need of the hour right now, but disciplining is the exclusive feature of a human being. And we should be able to understand, feel, and work on spending time with our loved ones and taking care of our own selves. There Apps and such lifestyle may lead children too to become workaholics, shifting from human beings to robots in the name of technological advancement.
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