With each new year comes a new beginning and with it a new opportunity to make a positive change in every aspect of your life. For many, a New Year's resolution may include more financial responsibility, more trips to the gym, or more veggies in their diet. However, a new year is also a great opportunity to kickstart positive habits with your technology in both personal and professional life.
Cut Down on Screen Time 
According to analytics firm Zenith, the average adult spends roughly 3 and 1/2 hours using the internet on their phone each day - that doesn't include computer monitors, laptops, and tablets. For 2020, COVID-19 quarantines have sent screen time around the world through the roof. Taking time away from devices may seem like a foreign concept to some, but the benefits that come with putting down phones, closing laptops, and logging off of desktops pays dividends. Studies have shown that cutting down on screen time can bring better sleep, reduce anxiety and stress, and reduce eye strain. Additionally, a constant influx of information leaves little to no time to really process the data that we're receiving. Logging off, enjoying a walk outside, and reflecting on the day's work can lead to a better net outcome at the end of the day with a reflective response that makes a deeper impact.
Declutter Your Inbox
While some users keep a clean inbox throughout the year, just a few days away from work can result in an inbox overflowing with ads, newsletters, internal communications, and business opportunities. It may seem daunting, but taking the time to clear out your inbox, organize important messages, and create an organized system for classifying new mail sets yourself up for long-term success in the year ahead. Whether you're a Gmail user, an Apple Mail fan, or an Outlook fanatic, there are plenty of tags, flags, and other tools at your disposal to help manage your message collection.
Back Up Your Data 
Whether you're saving pictures and videos from last year's vacation or backing up your most important financial information, taking the time to ensure that all of your most important data is backed up to the cloud provides peace that you'll never lose irreplaceable data that you depend on each day. With every piece of technology, hardware failure is always a possibility. Even with multiple copies of a document saved on multiple disks, hard drives, or SSDs, one theft or fire could take out your entire family of data. Through a cloud service like Microsoft OneDrive, users are able to keep their most important files, data, and memories without the fear of loss. Reliable backups ensure that you'll never lose important information, providing a solid foundation that keeps you up and running throughout the year no matter what technical issues may arise.
Set Other Resolutions Up for Success
As I mentioned at the beginning, many people take a new year as an opportunity to set a new precedent in their health, wealth, and personal happiness. Thankfully, new technology built into the devices that we use each day can help us achieve those goals! Whether you're an up-and-coming professional runner, getting your diet back on track, taking control of your finances, or striving for better mental health, applications designed by developers around the world are easily installed on a device of your choice to help achieve those goals and keep you on track for success.
Whether you're going on your first run or looking for a new way to track your activity, Runkeeper is a community favorite when it comes to setting goals, tracking distance, and getting you more tuned into your running habits with every week.
Setting nutritional goals, counting calories, and tracking macros has never been easier. MyFitness Pal is a tried and true nutritional powerhouse in the application space, providing both free and paid options to help you stay on track with a new lifestyle change.
Headspace 
Physical health is important, but don't forget about mental health! Life can be a lot to handle sometimes, but Headspace is one of the most popular mental health apps on the market. With the both guided meditation and sleep help, being more mindful is more achievable than ever before.
Mint
With so many cards, accounts, loans, and income sources, keeping a close watch on the status of every aspect of your finances can be a challenge. If you're shooting to gain a better handle on your money in the year ahead, Mint provides users the ability to monitor every account and transactions from one app.
Technology brings plenty of benefits in our everyday lives, setting us up to achieve our goals and set resolutions that can help the year ahead be the best it can be! Of course, these apps are just a small selection of the thousands that millions of users around the world use each day. Taking time to explore your app store of choice, read reviews, and find resources that fit your needs can set you up for success when using technology to help achieve your goals!
