Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Klaudia Saniewska

Research indicates that 79% of smartphone owners check their device within 15 minutes of waking up.

That can’t be good for your mental health…or can it? To answer this question, we need to understand why and how you are using this app. What value does it bring to your daily life? Are you aimlessly scrolling through your feed just to catch up on anything you might’ve missed while asleep? Are you FaceTiming your parents to wish them a good day? Or are you checking emails thinking it will give you a productive start to the day?

If the answer to any of these questions makes you feel uneasy, then you might’ve picked up a negative habit. This doesn’t mean you can’t work on shifting a negative habit into one that positively impacts your life, though.

Personally, I noticed I was waking up and scrolling through Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook on a daily basis which added little benefit to my mornings, and sometimes I found myself more stressed out. To me, this was a problem, so I decided to fix it. I began to research ways to start my mornings off on the right foot. Some ideas I came across included meditation, expressing gratitude, exercising, reading, or planning the day ahead. I then looked up apps to help me develop these positive habits. Let’s take a look at three beautifully-designed apps I’ve started using to benefit my day-to-day.

Calm: A guided meditation app and sleep story app to help you relax, sleep and feel happier.

I’ve found the best way to start my days is with 10 minutes of meditation. Calm lets me do that, and track the number of days and amount of time I’ve meditated throughout the year. There are a variety of guided meditations to choose from, for anxiety and relationships to personal growth. Oftentimes I use their timed meditation, and sit for 10 minutes while listening to the calming sounds playing lightly during the session. The UI is very clean, and it’s easy to find any type of meditation you’re in the mood for.

Blinkist: Quickly digest key lessons from 2,000+ non-fiction books in 15 minutes or less.

There are so many “personal growth” or “self-help” books out on the market today, but is there really enough time to read through all of them, especially when there are so many other great books out there? Blinkist lets you learn the key takeaways from top non-fiction books in 15 minutes or less. Now that’s a great deal. There’s even an option to listen to these summaries if you prefer to do so. This app was made for busy people like me who are striving to be as efficient as possible. The way Blinkist is able to recommend titles based on your reading history allows users to quickly add books to their “TBR” lists, which is clearly what members want. It’s 2018 — there’s no time to sift through millions of titles!

Audible: Listen to audiobooks, great for on the go.

Audible is similar to Blinkist in the sense that you can listen to audio “books”, but in the full formats. I enjoy listening to audio books while I’m getting ready or commuting to the office — a productive multitask! Again like Blinkist, Audible offers recommendations based on books you’ve listened to in the past. If you don’t like any of their recommendations, you can also browse other categories of books they have. I especially enjoy the fact that Audible sinks to my Goodreads account, and automatically updates the progress I’ve made on my reading.

With these apps, I genuinely feel a sense of stress-relief and confidence that I will make the best of my days. How about you? How can you use apps you are “negatively” addicted to in more positive ways? If you can’t find a way, which apps would you look into replacing with ones that will bring you a greater sense of satisfaction?

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Waking Up With the Right Apps was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Waking Up With the Right Apps

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