At this point, most of us have smartphones. Maybe you like carrying around an iPhone or maybe you prefer an Android phone, but either way you probably carry around a device that can do some pretty amazing things.
When these devices are used to their maximum potential they can help keep you organized and make life a lot easier in general. Here are my top 5 ways to make your school life easier through your smartphone.
1. Group chats
Usually when we teens start group chats, they’re usually just used to send a quick message or picture to a group of your friends, but they can be used for so much more. Group chats are a great way to get information to a lot of different people at once, which is why they are a great place to get answers for a difficult math problem, or ask questions about what you just learned in Social.
I suggest setting up a group chat for each of your classes with your friends, that way you have a convenient and easy way to ask for the help that you need when a teacher isn’t around. (Psst, they’re also a great way of sharing homework answers)
2. Calendar/journal app
Keeping yourself organized is one of the best ways to set yourself up for success, as they make it much easier for you to manage your time. Being organized means you will always know what’s coming up in your life, whether it’s a family gathering, or a school assignment. I know that for some people, keeping track of a physical calendar or journal can be a challenge, and that’s where a digital one comes in handy. There are a lot of good calendar apps for your phone nowadays and nearly all of them do what you need them to do. I personally prefer Google Calendar which is available on both iPhone’s and Android’s.
3. A good note-taking app
Taking note’s is an important part of every student’s life, so it’s important to find the right way to take them. If you’re someone who likes to take notes on your computer, there are a lot of great apps that also sync up your notes to your phone. Why is syncing your notes important you ask? If you can sync up the notes you take on one device, with all your other devices, the notes you take can go everywhere with you. No matter where you are, as long as you have your phone, you can study for your classes.
No matter where you are, as long as you have your phone, you can study for your classes.
A quality app that does this really well is Evernote, which is made for both iPhones and Androids. I recommend installing Evernote on your phone and on your laptop, that way if you take notes on your laptop. They will automatically appear on your phone as well.
4. Setting alarms for deadlines
Setting alarms for deadlines is a great way to make sure you know when you should be done certain tasks. Set the alarm 2-3 days before an assignment is due so you actually have some time to work on it, if you haven’t started already. You could also set multiple alarms leading up to the due-date in case the first alarm doesn’t quite jolt you into action.
5. Portable Battery Packs
This one is cheating a little bit as it’s not really something on your phone, but it is still a really good idea to carry one of these around. Portable battery packs basically just let you charge up your phone on the go, so that you don’t need to hover around an outlet to make sure your phone stays alive. We all know that our phones die way too quickly and these little things help take care of that problem.
These are really useful when you are on a train or have a long drive ahead of you, because they keep your phone alive in case of an emergency or just so you can play Pokémon Go longer (assuming you aren’t the one driving of course). When buying battery packs look at the milli-Amp hours (mAh) that the pack will last for. The more mAh a pack has, the longer that it will last.
Do you have an app or phone hack that you swear by for help with school? We’d love to hear it! Tweet/Instagram your fave and tag @yycconnecteen.
