I have to confess, I am a part of the technology generation. Yes, I am "glued" to my phone. Yes, I'm on my laptop more than is probably healthy. But I believe that technology has the power to change your life for the better (or provide entertainment in the downtime). Here are six of the websites that I find useful or entertaining and use almost every day. Enjoy!
1. Goodreads
Like many people, I have always had a to-read list a mile long. I never wrote down the names of books I was interested in; I just figured I would remember them. But when it came time to start a new book, I blanked out. On top of that, I didn't have any friends that were into the same books I was, so there wasn't really anyone to go to for suggestions. Enter Goodreads. This website is a savior for casual readers and bibliophiles alike. Goodreads keeps track of the books you want to read as well as the books you have already read and what you thought of them. It uses this information for recommendations, which are usually spot-on. Because it is user-driven, the database is huge and I have never come across a book that wasn't listed. Plus, there are other neat features like giveaways, the Goodreads Choice Awards, the yearly reading challenge, and online book clubs. If you only check out one website in this list, make it this one.
2. Habitica
Habitica is my holy grail for self-improvement. It's a unique way to keep track of all the things you need or want to do in your life. It's themed like an RPG: complete tasks and quests and get treasure, or skip them and lose health. Using Habitica makes me want to do my homework and clean my dorm just so that I can upgrade my weapons and armor. You can set "Dailies", recurring tasks like vacuuming or checking the mail, "To-Dos", one-time tasks like emailing a professor or packing for summer vacation, and "Habits", which can be either good habits you want to reinforce or bad habits you want to stop doing. Overall, it's a very useful program for increasing your productivity and getting over that end-of-semester slump.
3. Sporcle
Sporcle is the biggest time-waster in my life right now. I spent an entire Sunday playing on here instead of doing the homework for Monday (don't worry, it still got turned in on time!). Basically, Sporcle is a database of user-inputted quizzes, trivia, and logic puzzles about almost any topic you can imagine. My personal favorites are the ones where you have to fill in the lyrics for a song, especially if it's a Hamilton song. And because of editors and curators, the content's quality is much higher than what you would expect from a user-input-driven site.
4. TheaterTag
My grandmother and I love going to the movies together and since there are so many good movies coming out lately it only makes sense to go to several in a row. I always use TheaterTag to plan out our day. All you have to do is plug in what movies you want to see and what theater you want to go to and TheaterTag will show you an interactive schedule. Each movie has a draggable box so you can eliminate long waits between movies and make sure they won't overlap too much. If you like movie marathons, you need this site in your life.
5. Trakt.tv
People are always frustrated with me when they ask me if I've seen a movie or TV show and I respond with an honest "I dunno". It's apparently incomprehensible that I wouldn't remember the name, plot, or actors in every movie or TV show I've ever seen. Trakt.tv helps me solve that problem. Trakt.tv keeps a log of all the movies and episodes of shows you watch, so if you want to know if you've seen something before, you can just search your log. You can also keep a watchlist of everything you want to see in the future so you're not stuck browsing Netflix for half an hour and then giving up because you can't find anything you want to watch. You can also browse the trending section to get ideas for the next binge. There are some premium features that I personally don't subscribe to, but if you are a movie buff then it may be worth it for you.
6. Yummly
Yummly is by far my favorite cooking website. Not only does it have a huge selection of recipes from all over the Internet, it's also extremely customizable. Being a vegetarian, it's hard for me to find recipes that aren't super hipster or trendy. I can't survive on avocado toast and green smoothies! Yummly allows you to set a profile with preferences like dietary choices, allergies, skill level, and number of mouths to feed. Then, no matter what you search or what category you look under, it will only show you recipes that match your set preferences. Now I can find a diverse range of vegetarian recipes, from tried-and-true comfort food to wild, experimental dishes.
These are just six of my many favorite websites for you to check out and enjoy. They may not all be for everyone, but I hope you end up liking at least one of them. Maybe they'll become your favorites too!
