By: Max Cannon
While it's easy to get distracted by your phone it could possibly be a great tool for an aspiring student. Kickstarting great study habits, planning out your extracurriculars, and making great use of apps could be the key to success in school. Learning to use your phone as a useful tool rather than a distracting toy will help you make some great habits and remain a great student.
Make Use of Your Calendar
One of the most useful features on a phone is also one of the simplest, your calendar. Marking due dates for big essays or projects is a great way to remind yourself of upcoming assignments and keep your life tightly organized, not only for assignments but also for any sort of extracurriculars. Planning a sporting event? Mark it in the calendar. Getting ready for an upcoming dance? Jot it down in your schedule. Have a weekly assignment that may slip your mind? You won't forget if your phone is reminding you!
Your tech doesn't have to be a distraction with the right attitude!
This is a great strategy not only for school but it's a great habit to carry along into college or even throughout adulthood. The start to getting things done is know that you have to do those things! The moment you figure out you have an assignment or event, and you're not disrupting class, pull out your phone and mark the date with a reminder. You'll be thankful you started these habits, I know I am.
Reach Out To Groups
Getting a study group in a group text is an awesome way to keep everybody on the same page. Sending practice questions or planning out study groups through messaging will keep everybody connected and on the same page. If you've got a group with more than one person while working on a project or presentation will also be a great way to keep tabs on your peers and guarantee that everyone has their bit of work finished up. Once again, this is a great tactic for school but it was something I used throughout my own years in college.
Keeping connected to your classmates can encourage you to hold each other accountable for study habits.
Making groups on social media is another connective alternative to texting if you're in a scenario where someone can't text. Safely making groups on Facebook or forums can be an awesome way to share Powerpoint files or assignments, you can even directly edit certain files -- Word documents, Excel sheets, etc -- through tools like Google Drive.
Smartly Using Your Apps
Of course, like I mentioned earlier, you'll want to be conscious of how you're using your phone in class. Certain teachers will have rules that ban the use of phones and others may have restrictions in certain scenarios but if you're allowed to there are definitely some responsible options for your phone.
An in phone calculator can save a lot of money over a spendier physical calculator.
Making use of a smartphone's calculator can cut down time and save money if you need to get your hands on an expensive calculator like I had to do in high school. Finding the best use of words can make your essay sing if you'll effectively use a dictionary. And your notes app can be used for just that: actually taking notes. You'll definitely need to guarantee that you're not breaking any rules concerning phone use, but if you're permitted to use your phone in school you'll find some awesome tools literally at your fingertips.
Have Your Say!
What are your tips for getting the most out of your phone at school? What classes can your phone help the most in? Share your thoughts below!
