6 ways to use your smartphone in a smart and productive way

Apps to learn a new language, do charity work, relax, help scientific research: you can also do useful things with your smartphone

While standing in line at the post office, waiting for public transportation or during breaks at work. At all these times, most people grab their smartphones to browse the latest news on social media or play with apps. Yet there are more productive ways to use the phone.

In leisure moments the smartphone can be used to learn a new language or perform creative and beneficial actions. For example, while waiting we can download an application to learn foreign languages. It will take only 10 or 20 minutes a day to learn the grammar and vocabulary of an unfamiliar language, or to brush up on English in preparation for an interview or work engagement. The language learning apps on the phone are very well made, with exercises, tests and mini-games that help and entertain us by setting goals to achieve.

Use your phone for charity

There are many apps that allow us to do small acts of charity. For example, with the Johnson & Johnson app we can send a photo of ourselves, any photo, to receive money in return that we can then donate to the less fortunate. On Dare 2 Charity we'll answer random surveys to receive credits to send to charity. And we'll decide which charity to send the money to.

Help Science

Scientists can use your phone's processing power to solve complex problems. As an example, Folding@Home (made by Sony and Stanford University) gives researchers the processing power of your Android smartphone to study proteins. There are a myriad of similar apps on the Play Store and App store.

Apps for wellness

If we live stressful lives and are always in a hurry, we can take advantage of the little breaks by using an app on our smartphone for meditation and proper breathing.

Find the book that's right for you

If we love reading, we can download an app on our smartphone to quickly choose the next book to read. There are apps that recommend new books to us based on our previous readings. Among them we find the official one of Amazon's Kindle, or Pocket and Instapaper.

Get creative

We can spend the moments of waiting and pausing by drawing or editing photos on our smartphone. Besides being creative in this way we will also unplug from the daily stress. By doing something that we enjoy. On the Play Store and App Store there are a myriad of applications to draw, write or edit photos in an artistic way.