HO HO HO! Merry post-Christmas! If, like me, you spend Christmas Day in a gluttonous swirl of champagne and stuffing, today won’t be spent moving very much. Um, it’s not lazy. When your Auntie Joan has bought you new pyjamas for the joyous occasion, it would be rude to take them off for at least 32 hours, she’d be offended, the poor dear. If you’re spending Boxing Day languishing on the sofa/floor/curled up in a defeated ball under the dining table, then here are a few ideas to make staring at your phone just a little bit more useful.
Socialise From A Distance
While you’re sat bleary eyed, watching the dog destroy its new squeaky toy, take some time to reflect on the people you might want to reconnect with a bit. Take the time to ring your nan. Write some thank you cards… or emails, whichever. We’re not young ruffians losing the joy of the written word we’re saving paper and therefore the planet. So there.
Learn Something
Lear some actually useful stuff – these TED talks will flex your brain muscles even when everything else is going a bit flaccid from lack of use. Or if you’ve spent all of 2015 totally avoiding the podcast bandwagon, now’s the time to dip your toe in/totally submerge yourself. Slate magazine’s Double X Podcast, Call Your Girlfriend and of course, Serial(seriously how have you missed this?) are all a good starting point.
Binge on Telly, Not Turkey
One of the great things about this time of year is the opportunity to catch up on all the Netflix boxsets you couldn’t squeeze in over the course of 2015. We reckon in three straight days with minimal interruptions you could power through Master Of None, Narcos and How To Get Away With Murder – thus bringing you up to date for office TV chat in 2016.
Out with the old
‘Tis the season for giving and receiving; but not all gifts are equal and not everyone will love all their presents. A little harsh, but, the numbers prove it – it’s estimated that over 2.5 BILLION POUNDS is spent each year on unwanted Christmas presents. Billions!! I’ve also seen figures suggesting people will return over £2 million worth of items… my question is, what’s happening to the other 99% of our stuff? Understandably, people don’t want to appear ungrateful – but this seems like a waste.
You might have unwanted items, or you might love your new stuff but need to clear out old things to make room; either way it could be a good time to get selling online. Obviously there’s eBay, but newer and more specific apps like Depop are also great places to set up shop – and you can use the money you make to purchase other people’s wrong-sized clobber.
Join the silver line
Alternatively if you want to do some seriously good with your phone this Christmas (and to be fair you need to sort this out in advance), you could volunteer with a charity like The Silver Line, which amongst other things, arranges for volunteers to ring up old people who are on there own for a chat once a week and to check they’re ok. Which is an actual, genuinely useful way to mess about with your phone between Christmas and New Year – and pretty much guarantees a place on top of Santa’s nice list for next year.
**Liked this? You might also be interested in: **
Gemma Styles On Being Trolled Online And How To Deal With It
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.