New technology is not good or evil in and of itself. It’s all about how people choose to use it. ~ David Wong.

As someone who is embracing the culture of technology in my everyday life, I couldn’t agree less with this statement. Technology in itself is fluid and can only be labelled as evil’ when used wrongly and good’ when used rightly.

Some days I find technology extremely helpful to have a productive day, from scheduling to daily routine tracking and ample information at my fingertips; it makes me sometimes wonder how slow and dark life would have been without it.

But, some days too, I get stuck with my phone, my eyes fixed like glue to that glowing screen, helplessly hooked to TikTok, so much so that I don’t hear my clock tick. This leaves me in a scuffle of juggling these things for a productive day. Here is how I do it:

Balance: I am learning to put the edge in and strike a balance by placing the right dose of routines at the right time. I have been able to do this by tracking my screen time by making the screen less appealing (grayscale mode). (https://knowadays.com/blog/7-simple-ways-to-reduce-your-screen-time/) Switching off notifications from social apps that I find irresistible to ignore. Setting my phone timer to remind me how long I have spent on an app.

Priority: I start my day list with what is most important. I usually have a mental note of how my day should go the night before, what comes first, and what shouldn’t. It makes the next step easy.

Organization: I stay organized daily with these digital tools: Google Calendar, Sharepoint, and Outlook. They help me manage my coursework, assignments, and study schedules effectively. They also have features like shared calendars, task boards, and note-taking capabilities, which allow for a streamlined approach to managing tasks and deadlines.

My day-to-day digital tools and apps.
Here are my daily apps and websites that I use to maximize productivity.

For organizing and research:
Google Calendar is a time management and scheduling calendar service that helps me organize my activities and events. Click on this link to learn how to use a Google calendar effectively. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-calendar-tips

Outlook: I connect, organize, and get things done with my Outlook app. It brings my email, calendar, files, contacts, and office apps all into one place; it’s like a merger; it brings everything together. Outlook has web and app versions that you can install on your computer or mobile phone.

Sharepoint is a safe place to store, organize, and share information. I also use it for research.
Google and Chrome: I use these websites to research coursework and assignments.

Emails: Amazingly, I use my email to create a to-do list. I also share and receive coursework and study schedules via email.

For leisure:

WhatsApp: I turn in here to relax, catch up with the gist, and log off once my screen time is over. I also turned off the notification so I didn’t get distracted while studying.

TikTok is A double-edged app with informative content and engrossing entertainment too. I strongly adhere to my phone timer with this one, so I don’t lose it!
I haven’t gotten a perfect grip on technology and my daily routine, but I am sure that with consistency and discipline, I will establish a healthy relationship with technology.