As I have been trying to change my technology habits over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself searching for interesting new pieces of technology that will be beneficial to my life rather than take away from it. From physical pieces of technology to new iPhone apps I’ve discovered, below are my top five favorites ones.
1. Plant Nanny
Plant Nanny is an iPhone app that helps you regulate the amount of water you drink. Once you download the app, you pick the type of plant you want to grow and then every glass of water you drink helps the plant grow bigger until it reaches its full size. When your plant is fully grown you simply start over. The app sends you notifications on your phone throughout the day reminding you to drink water, as well as having number notifications on the app. I know it sounds incredibly simple and silly, but as a person who has never been a big water drinker, this app has really helped me keep up.
2. Zipongo
Zipongo is another iPhone app that I downloaded this summer. It has a wide bank of healthy recipes for almost any occasion imaginable. It also has a feature that helps you create a grocery list based on the recipes that you like and choose. I’ve struggled for a long time finding healthy recipes that actually seem reasonably easy to cook and this app has really helped that issue.
3. Pacifica
Pacifica is the final iPhone app on this list. Pacifica does a wide variety of things for you. Once you open the app you are prompted to identify your mood and a range of emotions that go along with however you’re feeling. It also has features where you can write down and analyze your thoughts, like a short version of journaling. If that’s not really something you’re into, Pacifica also has a “Health” feature that allows you to put in specific categories that make up your ideal day. For example, you tell the app that your goal is eight hours of sleep per night, and then in the app every day you can identify the amount you actually got. This goes for other categories like exercise, water, time spent outdoors, etc. Based on the categories you choose, Pacifica rates your day compared to the ideal day you identified in the beginning.
4. C by GE Sleep Light Bulb
The Sleep Light bulb is one of the most wonderful things that I’ve purchased this summer. It is a light bulb controlled by a phone app (also called “C by GE”) where you can change the brightness and warmth of the light. You can save various different settings as “Scenes” where you can just click the button in the app and it will change the light. As someone who falls asleep with my desk lamp on almost every night, this light bulb has helped me have a better sleep on the nights when I forget to turn my lamp off. I put the setting on the very lowest possible light so that I can still read and be on my laptop before bed, but if I fall asleep doing either of those things then my sleep isn’t dramatically affected by the amount of light.
5. Fitbit Alta
I have to admit that when Fitbits first came out I was incredibly against the whole idea of them. I’m not really sure what changed, but all of the sudden, one day I really wanted one. On an impulse, I bought one for myself, and the day it came I fell in love with it. The Fitbit Alta has so many cool features that motivate me to get off my butt on a lazy summer day. For example, every hour it gives you a reminder to get up and walk around for a bit. It has a little firework show on the screen when you reach your goal, which is very fun. If you wear it to bed it tracks your quality of sleep. You can also read your texts on it, which might be my favorite feature. I also enjoy tracking all of my accomplishments on the Fitbit phone app.
Obviously, all of these are health-related technologies. I’ve been trying to lead a more positive and healthy life, and I found myself needing a boost. All of these fun things helped me to stay motivated and on top of the most basic health aspects of my life, like drinking water and sleeping well. As silly as it may seem to spend the extra time on technologies like these, they really are helpful to the people that need an extra push.
