Technology That Can Help You Keep Your New Year Resolutions: Whatever happened in 2022 for you, 2023 offers us all a second chance to make the new year better than the one that came before. With the greatest of intentions, we make New Year’s resolutions, but it’s understandable why so many people give up after just a few weeks because old habits are difficult to break.
Technology That Can Help You Keep Your New Year Resolutions
Just as having a group of encouraging friends and family by your side on those trying days, it’s crucial to have resources that help you achieve your objectives easier. There are technological tools that can facilitate your efforts to improve your health, manage your life, or read more.
Fitness Tracker
You’re not the only one trying to turn over a fresh, healthy leaf this year. This time of year, fitness trackers (and the accompanying apps) are in great demand since they can help you maintain the new activity, hydration, and sleep habits you’re working to establish. The Inspire 3 by Fitbit is a solid option all around, not just because it costs under $100 but also because it accomplishes nearly all of the tasks that a novice would require of a fitness tracker.
It has 20 goal-based exercises you can manually track or have the device’s automatic SmartTrack feature monitor for you. It records daily steps, calories, heart rate, sleep, and more. You hardly ever need to remove it from your body to charge it because of its 10-day battery life.
We advise upgrading to the Fitbit Charge 5 if you are currently a runner or biker (or aspire to be one). Along with the internal GPS for mapping outdoor workouts and Fitbit Pay for contactless payments, you’ll get all the capabilities that the Inspire 3 has. In this manner, you won’t need to carry your wallet or phone when you go for a morning run and stop for coffee.
Smartwatch
The Apple Watch SE is a smart choice if you’d rather spend your money on a wearable that can do it all and is also seriously fitness-focused. It has the same essential functionality as any Apple Watch, even though it lacks some of the more expensive Series 8’s bells and whistles.
It records heart rate and daily activities, and watchOS now also provides rudimentary sleep monitoring. It monitors dozens of trackable exercises, provides fall detection, and has built-in GPS for outdoor workouts.
It also supports high and low heart rate alarms and fall detection. Additionally, it does a wonderful job at detecting when you are working out automatically and urging you to begin monitoring your progress. Additionally, the Apple Watch outperforms entry-level fitness trackers in key smartwatch features: The device will allow you to send and receive text messages and operate smart home appliances, music playing, and more.
Workout Classes
Finding workout sessions you enjoy will help you develop a workout habit that you’ll be more likely to maintain over time. There are many on-demand fitness courses that you can do from the convenience of your living room as well. You may do this through your local club because the motivation to leave the house and enter a designated training area can be incredibly helpful for some.
I’ve used many of these services, and Peloton is my favorite. No, you are not required to use one of the company’s pricey treadmills or cycles to benefit from their sessions. You can do HIIT, strength, yoga, and even outdoor running courses through the app-only membership for $13 per month, many of which require very little to no equipment.
Apple Fitness+ is a decent choice if Peloton isn’t your thing, especially now that anyone with an iPhone may sign up and participate in sessions, regardless of whether they own an Apple Watch. Another excellent alternative for individuals who favor yoga and pilates workouts is Alo Moves.
You need to put in a little more effort to find the resources that most appeal to you if you can’t afford to pay another monthly subscription. The internet is filled with many free resources for exercising. Fitness Blender is a fantastic free resource where you can watch hundreds of fitness videos and make your timetable by designating which videos to watch on certain days of the week.
I enjoy the caliber and consistency of their videos, but you can have a stronger connection to YouTube exercise videos if the teachers are instructors you like. Move with Nicole and Heather Robertson are two of my faves.
Password Manager
A password manager is a wonderful place to start if your goal for the new year is to improve your level of online security. Although LastPass (which offers a free version), Bitwarden, and Dashlane are additional possibilities, I prefer 1Password. You only need to remember one password (thus the name) to sign into your 1Password account and access all others after saving all of your passwords for multiple accounts.
One password features apps for most platforms, including iOS and Android, so you can use it on all devices. The service has browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and other browsers that will allow you to log in smoothly with the right credentials with just a few clicks.
I also like the Password Generator function, which enables you to generate a fresh, secure password each time an old one expires. This is available in LastPass as well, and Dashlane even offers a free password generator that anyone may use. This relieves you of the burden of creating a robust key and makes it simple to replace outdated credentials with new ones.
Reading App
Avoid continuing your doom-scrolling routine into the new year. Instead, you may use the internet to find more books to read; a nice place to start is the free Libby app. It connects you to your local library’s digital collection and uses Overdrive to enable you to borrow and download various e-books, audiobooks, magazines, graphic novels, and other materials. You can “save” titles in Libby using the tag system without placing a hold on them (although you can do that in the app, too).
Give all audiobooks you wish to eventually listen to a “TBR” tag so you can find them easily and borrow one when you need new reading or listening material.
I frequently use Libby and appreciate how simple it is to borrow items from my neighborhood library without leaving my house. But there have been several occasions when the book I’m looking for isn’t in my library. If it occurs frequently, you might want to sign up for a subscription service like Kindle Unlimited or Scribd, both of which offer $10 per month unlimited access to large e-book collections. For those who prefer audiobooks, there are two options: Libro.
FM or Amazon’s Audible, the latter of which allows you to select the neighborhood bookshop you wish to support with your purchases.
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