Simple Tech Hacks to Save You Time
While we all know that the internet is a fantastic resource and a great place to find all the information we could ever need, it is also possible to waste a tremendous amount of time there. We can easily find ourselves getting distracted. This is particularly true if we click on pop-up ads or get embroiled in massive threads and arguments on social media.
Social media companies make their money by keeping us engaged. It would help if you made sure that the time you spend online is doing what you want it to do and that you are not being directed by what someone else wants you to look at.
Here are a few simple ideas to ensure that you get the most out of your virtual world’s time. They are also ideas about how that virtual world can save you time and money in the real world. It’s all one world, really; you have to make it work for you.
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Shopping
The shift to internet shopping over recent years has been enormous, and many high streets and malls have to consider new ways to stay viable. The average American spends over 11 hours a week shopping, and the typical household makes 500 trips a year to the stores.
By shopping online, you can save travel time and money, but you can also get an enormous selection and get your goods delivered to the door. You can still support local shops and makers by finding their websites or choosing a site like Etsy to make your purchases. Try to remember to stay focussed on what you are looking for. Reviews are a useful way to check out a company’s or product’s credentials. This is particularly important when purchasing high-ticket items.
Banking and Bill Paying
No more standing in line waiting for a bank teller to come free or going to different banks to pay different bills or queuing at an ATM. Online banking has changed how we manage our money. The banks advise you to download their banking app rather than access it through a web browser for added security. Once this is done you can pay all your bills, make transfers, and manage your direct debits from home or on the go.
Gaming
Nowadays, nearly all gaming is cloud-based, meaning that they are stored on the game developers’ servers. The gamer only needs a stable internet connection to play alongside their friends wherever they are based.
Although, with all the available games online, you might want to consider doing extra research to make sure that you spend your time, money, and effort on the right game. If online gambling is what you’re interested in, you should also make sure to play at one of the best online casinos, such as BetMGM, so you can get straight to your favorite games at trusted sites without wasting time searching.
Learning and information
Remember when access to learning was limited to those who could spend hours trawling through archives and academic books in libraries and bookshops? Now almost all information can be found online, and there are also millions of books to read and courses that you can do from home. Make sure that you get information from reputable sources and do not just assume that because someone on Facebook said it is true.
Travel
The last few years have taught us that we do not necessarily need to go everywhere to have successful business meetings or appointments. Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings can be a viable alternative, particularly in workplace scenarios. Colleagues from across the country can get together without jumping on planes and into cars.
You can also use the internet to research your accurate travel plans as you find and book the perfect vacation online. You can check out the reviews on a site like Trip Advisor to make sure you get what you are looking for.
Email
An email has been around for as long as we have had access to the internet, and it is a vital tool for all our communications. It is easy for our inboxes to become overwhelmed, however. Remember to turn on your junk filters and take time to unsubscribe from any email lists that you do not want to get updates from. Make sure that you set up syncing on your email so that it delivers and keeps records of sent emails across all your devices.
Social Media
This is probably the place on the internet where we can waste the most time if we are not careful. Notifications can be the biggest distraction going. You can either turn them off entirely or have them delivered silently – you can still see something is happening, but a flag will appear rather than the app constantly pinging. You can manage this in your mobile device or computer settings.
If you have a presence across several social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik-Tok, you can post across all your accounts at once using Buffer. You can create a draft post with text and images and select when you want the post to appear. You can create different versions of the same position to fit the platform you are posting on. You might even find yourself becoming an influencer.
While these hacks will take a little bit of effort to set up, you will find that they save immeasurable amounts of time in the future.
