Curse of the Smartphone

I love my iPhone. I mean, I really love it. It's rarely more than a foot from me, whether I'm working (texting back and forth with writers), playing (taking pictures) or sleeping (until the alarm wakes me). I say with complete earnestness that having that amount of access to information, leisure and high-quality photography has changed my life. But for all of the good things it brings, it also creates plenty of negative impacts to on life. Here are a couple of tricks I've learned to help manage the blessing and the curse that is the smartphone.

Never Buy Anything Without a Coupon

I know, the title of this article is a bit extreme.

But honestly, if you engrain this tiny piece of advice into your impulsive, worry-about-an-overdraft-after-the-expensive-shoe-purchase brain, you'll save yourself a lot of financial headaches. It wasn't that long ago that I realized the power of Google in my constant mission to pinch pennies.

You'd be surprised how many companies have valid coupon codes floating around on the web without actively promoting them in their normal email spam.

Make Your Gratitude Memorable

In the professional world, there will always be an occasion when you will have to thank someone for putting in a word for you, for giving you a reference, or for recommending you for a job or a project.

If the case is that you are working your way up in your career, and you are completing an application for a post graduate program of any kind, then you will find yourself asking former supervisors, or professors for favors; just make sure you remember to say thank you.

How to Procrastinate Wisely

Back in college, I was an all-star procrastinator. Paper due? Bring on the Red Bull and pull an all-nighter. Exams coming up? Go yet more hardcore with caffeine pills and two consecutive all-nighters.

So alert! So awake! So much TMJ!

Let me tell you, things have changed. It turns out that at 26, I’m no longer capable of performing minor academic miracles while grinding my teeth into nubbins and leaping to catch pencils that aren’t actually rolling off my desk. Staying up all night not only breaks my brain, but also makes me old-lady tired the next day—you know, at my actual adult job. The problem is that for those of us who go to school while working full-time, the urge to procrastinate can be pretty potent. The last thing I want to do after a long day at work is write a paper, and the idea of working over the weekend is even less appealing. Yet the more I procrastinate, the more anxiety I generate and the less productive I am, leading to more anxiety and yet more procrastination. Thankfully, there are ways to break out of the vicious cycle.

Turn Your Internship into a Job

In terms of getting and keeping your dream job, I’m definitely fortunate. I was hired at a magazine company in my early 20s and in just over a year became its top editor. My interns ask me frequently for advice about landing a similar situation. The simple answer is that I was in the right place at the right time and had enough luck and energy to stick it out… which isn’t much help to them. The more complex answer is that I took a small opportunity – as an unpaid, undergraduate intern – and managed to turn that into a career. Here’s how I did it.

Webcomics for Quick Laughs

Picture: poorlydrawnlines.com

Sometimes when you're having a bad day, you need to read articles on a humor website, or watch some videos on YouTube, or look at pictures of fuzzy baby animals. All of those are good ways to take a small break when you're stressed with work or school, or both. And sometimes, sometimes you need a webcomic. Don't let the comic to the right be true. These short webcomic sites can give you a break from text-heavy work and provide you with quick punchlines that will at least make you smile if not laugh out loud or chuckle.

God Save My Shoes, and My Bank Account Too!

Image Source: www.nymag.com

Unless you have just crawled out of a hole, you know who Mark McNairy is. It is impossible to browse through any men’s fashion magazines or style blogs without running into that name. Who was once the former creative director for J. Press has now launched his own clothing line, with an emphasis on edgy, fashion-forward footwear (www.markmcnairy.com). As the number of these trendy shoes decreases, so is the amount of money in buyers’ bank accounts. With McNairy footwear starting at around $395, here are similar options that won’t break your bank accounts.

Brave-as-Hell 20 Somethings

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how our lives as busy-as-hell 20 somethings are so distinctly different from others of the same demographic. Just as we have made the choice to write, chain ourselves to a desk, and pursue ever-higher degrees in education, so have our troops made the decision to commit their 20s and beyond to the military service. 

The Saturday of Misfit Chores

The Problem

For six months I've had three bottles of Vaseline Intensive Care lotion sitting on my bathroom hamper. The situation is this: when one bottle almost runs out, I open a new bottle intending to transfer the last couple ounces from the empty to the new bottle.

And then I never do.

I've made it through two whole bottles and I'm about to empty a third.

I know what you're thinking: why don't you just throw away the bottles before you end up on Hoarders?

5 Tips for Online Shopping Success

During my graduate career, I became a professional at online shopping. When you work 30 hours a week while studying full-time, and accessing a shopping mall means paying for a rental car or spending hours on public transportation, knowing the ins and outs of online shopping is a skill worth having.

Here are 5 tips that will help you online shop successfully, and minimize the chances of being disappointed by what arrives at your doorstep.

Landing the Unlisted Job

     I'm all about creating and finding the best kind of opportunity out there: the unlisted job!  Over half of the positions inside some of the world’s most sought after companies are unlisted due to internal hiring and employee referrals.  So how does one break and enter into a company, brand, or agency to score a dream job?  It’s simple: stop spending so much time applying for the jobs that are listed and focus in on some specifics:

Living Summertime Through the Movies

Every year, without fail, August sneaks up on me. It feels like summer has just begun, and then all of sudden we only have a month left. This year it seems to have snuck up especially fast since I’ve been working and taking classes all summer.

If you’re having a particularly busy summer like me, one in which you may not be able to get away and enjoy the season, here are some movies imbued with the spirit of the season to stir up some nostalgia. Unwind from a busy day spent inside and lose yourself in summer for a bit.

What Does It Mean to Be an "Emerging Adult?"

Photo Credit: Abac College / Wikimedia Commons

A recent survey commissioned by Clark University of more than 1,000 young adults has revealed some interesting characteristics of the "emerging adult" set. As someone within that set, I found myself wondering if I would agree with any of the conclusions the researchers arrived at.

The Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults was conducted online and by phone, and surveyed young people across the country between the ages of 18 and 29 in April of this year. One surprising finding was that "young people widely see the value of taking their time to get a college degree," and that "the potential debt waiting for them after graduating" is well worth it. While I would agree that getting your college degree is of the upmost importance in this job market, I've always tried to finish my degrees as quickly as possible. Who would want extra loans when you could work a little bit harder and finish sooner?

Healthy, Happy...and Gluten-Free

Food allergies are terrible. To name just a few ways in which allergies can be the worst things ever: Some people with nut allergies experience such a severe reaction to even infinitesimal amounts of nuts that they can’t go to baseball games because they might inhale particles floating around from all the peanut shelling. People with milk allergies get to discover that “whey,” a cheese-making byproduct, is in everything from ice cream and cottage cheese (where you’d expect it to be) to pastries and crackers (well, obviously, once you put the cheese on there…no. BEFORE the cheese. IN the cracker). And to people with soy allergies: respect. You guys are soldiers. I don’t know what you eat instead of food, seeing as soy is added to just about every product in the Western world, but whatever it is, you give me hope.

Unfortunately, millennials and subsequent generations seem to be more afflicted with food allergies than generations past, possibly because the Western diet has made us more susceptible to developing such sensitivities.

Need Motivation?

Sometimes motivation cannot be found no matter how hard you look. There are distractions everywhere, especially if you're on the internet. Whether you're a writer, a student, or a professional, you might need some help once in awhile to get that boost of motivation. In my search for motivation I have found two websites that might help with productivity. If that doesn't intrigue you enough, one website involves kittens and the other involves punishment.

Time and Money Saving Tips for a Tech Generation

Photo from Wikipedia.com

Let's face it, we've always been a gadget loving generation. We've simply turned in our Tamagotchi's for iPhones and our Furby's for iPads. 


So when the latest gear and gadget's come out it's hard to exercise some self restraint and not jump on the chance to snap up the latest and greatest. Not to mention all of our latest toys want our credit card numbers, making it all too easy to overspend. So to start August on the right foot here are some tech related tips to keep your wallet from feeling a little thin.