Cognitive Applications that Get Me Through the Day
Being a soon-to-be college graduate, working two internships, and trying to balance physical & mental health is definitely one the biggest challenges I am currently facing on a daily basis. I’ve noticed that my schedule is packed back-to-back with classes, meetings, study time, and anything that requires me to be awake. As a result, I sleep very little, spend way too much money on takeout, and don’t exercise as much as I would like to. To get my mental and physical health back on track, I searched for mobile applications that will help me better manage my life. Here are the apps that work for me:
Trevor is a mobile application that syncs your mobile task list with your mobile calendar so that you can manage your time more efficiently. Trevor is a personal assistant that fits in your pocket. Just use your text messaging feature on your phone to talk to Trevor when you need to schedule an event or a task. For example, if you need to pick up your dry cleaning, text Trevor and you’ll be given a time that works well with your schedule. What makes Trevor a unique application is that it learns what your daily habits are, how long your commute to work is, and how long it takes you to complete certain tasks. From there, it will predict when is the best time for you to complete a new task. If you’re a person that schedules meetings back-to-back and struggle to manage your time, this is the app for you.
College students who are struggling to manage their finances can benefit from MyKAI. MyKAI is a mobile application that uses artificial intelligence that breaks down your finances and tells you where and when you are spending the most money. Link your bank account and then connect with the Kai chatbot via SMS, Slack, or Facebook messenger. The goal for MyKAI is to help its users understand their spending habits and then take suggestions on how to make more financially-responsible decisions.
So far, we’ve talked about having both a personal assistant and a financial advisor in your pocket. Woebot is a therapist that fits in your pocket. Woebot will chat with the user once a day and gather information that tracks mood, provides videos, and suggestions on how to improve the user’s mental health. The reason why Woebot made this list is because mental health is important. Seeking a therapist can be costly ($85-$200/session) and people who are in need of speaking with a therapist simply just can’t afford it. Woebot is $39/month and provides talk therapy for the user.
I don’t wear makeup often and I dread shopping for makeup. I have a fast-paced job in marketing and have very little time to shop for and apply makeup. I needed there to be a way where I can figure out what brand, style, and color makeup that I would need before I went to the store so that way I can just get in and get out as quickly as possible. The Sephora Visual Artist using augmented reality and artificial intelligence that identifies your unique facial features and “try on” makeup samples from a variety of brands and styles. The app can be used on a mobile device. All the user has to do is take a photo of their face, upload it to the Sephora Visual Artist mobile application, and then browse through the large gallery of makeup items and select the items you would like to try. Your selected items will be applied onto your photo and shows you how the makeup would look on you.
One Brand That Just “Gets” Me
On top of having a job that is very time-demanding, I live in a city where finding a place to park my car is both a hassle and a financial burden. For those reasons, I try to drive in the city as little as possible. I spend about 30–40 minutes walking the downtown area and then spend the rest of my day at my desk working on marketing projects. To help keep time moving quickly, I am pretty much plugged into my earbuds all day. Spotify has made it super easy for me to discover music that I would like to listen to and even keeps track of what songs I listen to the most often. Based on my listening habits, Spotify is able to create a playlist that I would most likely enjoy. This is a huge help for me since it takes a lot of time for me to create a playlist or find a song that I would like to listen to. This experience has shaved off about 15 minutes that I look at my phone everyday at work. Shaving off 15 minutes may not sound like a big deal, but I have managed to check off more small tasks throughout the day.
