10 Apps & Websites We’re Thankful For in 2016

Ever find that one app that's as good as your morning coffee or you can't live without when the battery on your phone dies?

Here at DijiWise headquarters, it's plain and simple. We love apps.

Especially the ones that save us time, make life easy, are inventive, or that our kids can't get enough of. We love that technology connects, entertains, teaches and protects.

Keeping the DijiWise holiday tradition going, here's our top 10 list of apps and websites we're thankful for.

Calm - The perfect app for when you just “need a moment.” Whether you need to pause, regroup, or clear your head, this simple mindfulness meditation app will help bring clarity and peace of mind into your life. Calm is the perfect gift for yourself if you want to add a little sanity to the holiday season.

Vivino - Touting themselves as the world’s largest wine app, Vivino is also the world’s largest online community of wine enthusiasts. Snap a photo of any wine label to save to your personal wine journal. Learn it’s rating, average price and get reviews from other wine-lovers, instantly. Scan any restaurant wine list and let Vivino pick the perfect pairing for your meal.

Source: giftameal.com

GiftAMeal -  Ever post a pic of food? Then this is the app for you. GiftAMeal is a fast-growing startup that helps fight hunger and feeds others when you dine out. It’s as simple as that - and at zero cost to you. We discovered this app on a table tent at Applebee’s. In fact, we downloaded it and helped make a meal possible for another person before leaving our table. Each time you eat at a partner restaurant and share a pic of your meal through the app, GiftAMeal helps provide a meal to a person in need through local food pantries. You can also recommend the partner restaurant and discover other “socially conscious” restaurants for when you go out to eat. As of May 2016, GiftAMeal has donated 3,000 meals in participating cities. When good food with good company helps a good cause - it’s hard not to use this app. Watch for it in your city.

Houzz - To create the home you’ve always wanted, look no further than Houzz. Discover design ideas, find local contractors to do the work, and shop for home accessories right from the convenience of the app or website. Save ideas you search for to reference later.  Get advice, connect with designers, and hear stories about home improvement projects similar to your own.

Waze -  The world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app. More than just a GPS, Waze allows you to connect with other drivers to get up to the minute, real-time traffic reports to help you save time on your daily commute or while on a holiday road-trip.

MyFitnessPal -  Counting calories and logging fitness activities during the holidays may not be your #1 priority, but if you want to stay on track, MyFitnessPal can help you do it. It’s Under Armour’s “ConnectedFitness” app, and connects to fitness wearables like FitBit or Garmin to help you achieve your personal health and fitness goals.

DijiWise - Having peace of mind and knowing your kids are showing responsibility when using social media doesn’t get any easier than with the DijiWise app. For full disclosure, it’s an app we brought to market. It helps parents stay connected to their kids by delivering social media activity in one, simple app, while encouraging conversations about digital responsibility. A few things make it stand out. DijiWise is reliable and real-time, and is one of the few apps out there that makes this possible for parents. It saves them an enormous amount of time that would be otherwise spent hopping site to site to see their kids’ social media activity. The app encourages families to start a conversation about everyday things as schedules get busier and tech changes how - and how often - we communicate. We’re thankful for how the app has sparked valuable and interesting conversations between parents, friends, teens, parenting groups, experts and more. You can follow DijiWise on social media for its popular conversation starter series, DijiTalk, which provides parents with weekly topics about social media, digital responsibility, everyday life, interests and more to chat about with their kids.

ABCYa - If there’s ever been an educational app to be thankful for, this is it. ABCYa isn’t for you, it’s for your kids (who may already be using the website or app at school). It comes highly recommended by teachers. In just one day in our house, ABCYa quickly surpassed Subway Surfer, YouTube and others as the app of choice by kids (second only to Netflix). ABCYa features learning games for kids Pre-K to 5th grade and has 6 free games each week that are great for the computer, smartphones or tablets. You can also subscribe to unlock more than 100 games categorized by grade level. Once you introduce it to a kid, you’ll find that even you bend the rules when it comes screen time.

6pm - Two words: Shopping deals. The 6pm website and crisp, clean app offer sale prices on brand name apparel that are hard to pass up. Having the app on your phone makes it easy to do a quick price or style comparison when you’re shopping in-store or online. 6pm offers free shipping when you order two or more items, and makes it easy to find fashion for less for men, women and kids. The deals change often, so don’t wait too long to complete your purchase if you find something you’re looking for.

Musical.ly - This instant music video app is currently one of the most popular apps with teens, to the tune of more than 70 million users. This app makes our top 10 list not for its features, but for the creativity and fun it brings out in its users. We’ve witnessed the app bring out a love for music in the shyest of kids, laughter and collaboration between cousins and friends, and hours of fun at get togethers. Muscial.ly brings out music, movement and creativity in everyone, and is easy to use. Users create 15-second videos lip syncing (and often dancing) to clips of songs across genres, or they can produce videos with original audio. Friends on Musical.ly can do duets while in different locations, and “produce” videos with a handful of editing features - including splicing, speed, reverse play, and popular sticker filters. For parents, the privacy settings on the app are appealing - accounts can be public or set to private so only friends can see the videos. You can also install the app on your phone and log in with your child’s account to stay aware of their “Musical.lys.” A word of caution, the app has a “live” feature that lets users to live broadcast - a feature for parents to be aware of and discuss with their kids, if needed. Some say music makes the world go round, and Musical.ly may prove that to be true.

Want to discover a few more great apps and websites out there? Check out our list from 2015 of apps we're thankful for.

Cover Image: Adobe

Parenting in the Digital Age: Practicing Mindfulness

Featured on Medium.com

I recently attended a leadership seminar through my local school district where we had the opportunity to learn about a new initiative in our schools of incorporating “mindfulness” into our educational system.  Realizing I already practice “mindfulness” techniques in my own life, I was very excited to learn how practicing this theory can be life-changing for our children, teachers, administration and our community.

One of the leading reasons for bringing this practice into our school community is to help manage stress. It really got me thinking.

How did we as a society get so stressed out?!  

Why is suicide the leading cause of death amongst teens?

Why are so many teens and adults on anti-anxiety medication?

What is so different about growing up today compared to my youth?

The first “difference” that came to mind was social media and digital technology.

How can we apply the practice of mindfulness to ease the additional anxiety and stress that is caused by social media and everyday living in the Digital Age?

What is Mindfulness?

“Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.”

Excerpt from http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition

What are some examples of Mindfulness practice?

Yoga, meditation, writing, listening to music, going outside, gardening walking… any activity that helps you achieve body-mind balance and bring calm and peace for even a short period of time during the day.

Why do we need this?

Teens/tweens are naturally wired for self-consciousness. What is so different from when I grew up, is that the comparison, competition, self-doubt, etc., stopped when we walked in the front door after a day at school. We were able to “turn-off” and “tune-out” social pressures because we didn’t have the technology to keep these channels “turned-on” 24/7.  Today, socializing, especially through social media, IS 24/7.

“Socializing and social comparison begins first thing in the morning and ends last thing at night. Predictably, psychology research consistently shows that social media is making kids unhappier and more narcissistic.” --(“Before you scroll, try this..”by Christopher Willard)

Benefits of Mindfulness

An article on the website “Greater Good, The Science of a Meaningful Life” identifies why practicing mindfulness has such great benefits.

• Mindfulness is good for our bodies: A seminal study found that, after just eight weeks of training, practicing mindfulness meditation boosts our immune system’s ability to fight off illness.

• Mindfulness is good for our minds: Several studies have found that mindfulness increases positive emotions while reducing negative emotions and stress. Indeed, at least one study suggests it may be as good as antidepressants in fighting depression and preventing relapse.

• Mindfulness changes our brains: Research has found that it increases density of gray matter in brain regions linked to learning, memory, emotion regulation, and empathy.

• Mindfulness helps us focus: Studies suggest that mindfulness helps us tune out distractions and improves our memory and attention skills.

• Mindfulness fosters compassion and altruism: Research suggests mindfulness training makes us more likely to help someone in need and increases activity in neural networks involved in understanding the suffering of others and regulating emotions. Evidence suggests it might boost self-compassion as well.

• Mindfulness enhances relationships: Research suggests mindfulness training makes couples more satisfied with their relationship, makes each partner feel more optimistic and relaxed, and makes them feel more accepting of and closer to one another.

• Mindfulness helps schools: There’s scientific evidence that teaching mindfulness in the classroom reduces behavior problems and aggression among students, and improves their happiness levels and ability to pay attention. Teachers trained in mindfulness also show lower blood pressure, less negative emotion and symptoms of depression, and greater compassion and empathy.

Practicing Mindfulness- tools for teens and families

If we as a society want to help manage stress and anxiety, reduce teen suicide, help kids cope, and just overall be more healthy and productive citizens… we need to guide them (and ourselves) to useful tools and techniques.

Activities for families:

• Breathing Exercises — Can be beneficial any time of day. Try it before the kids go to school or on the way to work. It’s a much better way to start the day than in a stressful state. Take 3–5 minutes to just breathe in through the nose and then let out a big exhale. Repeat.

• Mindful Appreciation — Make it a goal each day to write down 5 things we are thankful for. Have a blank dry erase board or chalkboard available and start each day by writing down one thing. Have your family add more throughout the day.  

• Yoga — Enroll in a yoga class with your kids, or practice on your own in the park or in a quiet corner of the house.

• Walking — A quiet walk in nature is good for the mind and the body. No need to talk, just enjoy the peaceful time in the great outdoors.

• Meditation — Take some quiet time to relax and think of something that makes you happy or calms you.

• Body Scan— Technique to help the body relax. Start at the outer parts of the body and work inward. Think of your fingers relaxing, hands, wrists, toes, feet, ankles, calves, knees — upward. This is a great tool for all ages and even helps weary and stressed out parents get needed rest.

Thanksgiving themed Mindfulness exercise - Use a real or artificial pumpkin and have each family member (or friends and visitors) write down what they are thankful for. 

No surprise, when looking for mindful tools, look no further than the app stores. Both of these are available on the App Store and Google Play.

• Calm (www.calm.com)  — Relax with Calm, a simple mindfulness meditation app that brings clarity and peace of mind into your life.

• Stop Breathe Think (www.stopbreathethink.org) — Geared towards teens/tweens to learn meditation yet perfect for all ages.

Practice Mindfulness while using social media

• Before you start clicking and scrolling, just breathe. Take a few seconds to take a few deep inhales and a few deep exhales. This helps you calm and center yourself.

• Ask yourself these questions: Why am I going to this site? What do I expect to see/learn? How am I going to react what I see/learn? Am I going to let it get to me? Am I here to stay connected or am I just bored or need a distraction?

• Take a few more deep breaths in and out before engaging

• Ask yourself: how did what you saw make you feel? Happy? Sad? Angry? Jealous? Concerned? Confused?

• Think about how you want to engage with what you saw: Like it, share it, comment on it, do nothing?

• Take a few more deep breaths in and out and then react.

This type of exercise can help one understand how to use social media mindfully. Being aware of emotions can help your kids (and yourself) make better decisions on how to react and how often to use certain social platforms.

For more on practicing mindfulness when scrolling social: 

http://www.mindful.org/before-you-scroll-try-this-social-media-practice/

Parting thoughts

Parenting in the Digital Age is no easy task. If we can use simple techniques for ourselves and for our families to help manage stress and anxiety in everyday living, we will help foster a community of wellness that will perpetuate beyond this generation.

10 Websites and Apps We’re Thankful For

It's hard to imagine what life would be like without the access to information, entertainment and each other that the Internet and tech make possible. This time of year, expressions of thanks and greetings flood social media and apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and SnapChat.

As we make new memories and celebrate Thanksgiving with traditions, we thought we’d share a list compiled by everyone at Team DijiWise of 10 websites and apps we’re thankful for that keep us going and make life great.

GoFundMe
GoFundMe and other online fundraising websites not only make it easier to raise money, they’ve enabled globalization of the spirit of giving. It’s a forum for anyone to raise money for almost anything - charity, medical costs, community outreach, natural disasters, a person or family facing an emergency, a project, or even groceries. With GoFundMe, people can receive help or donate money, touch the lives of other people with more immediacy, and discover and contribute to any cause or purpose that’s meaningful to them. And for these reasons, we’re thankful.

AllRecipes.com
Dinner and hosting possibilities are endless when thousands of recipes, cooking videos and tips are a search away by ingredient, course or theme. (There’s even user ratings and comments on the recipes so you know what you’re in for.) The app is as user-friendly as the website, and the ability to save recipes so you have a digital cookbook of recipes you don't want to forget makes this one of the websites we’re most thankful for.

8tracks
Describe your mood and this website will find the perfect list of free playlists for your day. Pick a handful of keywords such as “summer,” “happy,” and “work out,” and discover an endless stream of music that is the epitome of those words. The 8tracks app works seamlessly as well, so add some sweet jams to the background of your work day or weekend morning.

Medium
Medium is a wonderful hub for reading and sharing stories with people around the world. You can follow people and topics that you’re passionate about, while being inspired to write your own stories. A broad range of perspectives are shared, from personal narratives like “Pseudonyms and True Names: The Sacred Power of Identity” to professional insights like “ABC: Always Be Coding.” This website gives individuals a space to connect through thoughtful interactions and words.

WorkFlowy
When you use WorkFlowy, you’ll be thankful you didn’t forget anything. This is the ultimate list for jotting down which groceries are running out, dinner party details, and random errands and is perfect for anyone with responsibilities. Everything is organized into one big sheet of expandable and collapsable bullet points. If you only want an overview of your to-dos, you can hide the underlying bullet points. Its website and app interfaces help you catch random reminders and efficiently cross off to-dos throughout the day.

Cozi
Cozi might just be the best family organizer app out there. You set up one family account that everyone can share (including grandparents and babysitters). Each member can access the app via their smartphone, tablet, or computer. The PIC (parent in charge) can upload grocery lists, to do lists, contacts, recipes and calendar for the entire family to access. No need to send Dad a text to stop for milk on the way home or remind Johnny about his soccer game on Saturday. Everything you need your family members to know is all contained privately in the app. A bonus feature is the online journal so you can jot down a milestone event, notable quote, story, or add a photo, which you can share privately with other household members. (We’re extra thankful Cozi is available for different devices and platforms including iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows.)

Evernote
Who hasn’t been thankful for something that makes staying organized easy? Evernote is the ultimate note taking/organizing app for busy people on the go. It keeps your life organized in notebooks, so it’s like your personal virtual filing cabinet to help you keep track of all the little things that can get lost in the shuffle. Tag your notes with keywords so you can easily search without having to remember where you filed them.  Scan business cards, invoices, receipts, or any other papers to eliminate desktop clutter. Its newer “web clipper” feature installs an extension on your browser so you can clip articles and things you find online, and save directly to your Evernote account. Evernote conveniently syncs to your master account so that you can access the same info from any device you use. This app is ideal for personal use, but excellent for work team collaboration as well and now integrates with Salesforce enterprise software.

TeamSnap
If you have kids who play sports, you’ll be thankful for the people who created TeamSnap. TeamSnap is perfect for keeping sports schedules organized and in one spot. Keep track of the team roster, parents' emails, phone numbers, and game and practice schedules. The interactive map feature is also helpful. Parents or the team coach can upload a schedule for the entire season and share with all of the members so that parents can add it to their iCal or Google calendar with the click of a button. TeamSnap is a HUGE time saver! Premium version offers additional features like photo sharing, payment tracking for team fees, player availability and more.

PocketUniverse
This app brings out the inner astronaut or astronomer in all of us by easily identifying the night sky with the simple point in the direction you're looking with your smartphone or tablet, teaching you interesting facts about space, the planets and more. Time flies when you use this app, and it’s just plain fun for all ages.

Nextdoor
Nextdoor brings a community closer and creates a private social network for your neighborhood. It’s useful for quick communications with your neighbors (and only your neighbors) to share emergency info, find a recommended plumber, dog walker, babysitter, or to look for a lost cat.  Nextdoor is also helpful for newcomers to meet their neighbors and get acquainted with a new community.

By this time next year, we expect another one to make the list of 10 sites and apps we’re thankful for - DijiWise. DijiWise is an app-based tool for parents that helps them monitor their children’s social media activity and encourages conversations about their posts and digital responsibility. DijiWise’s Parent Central also provides parents with articles and resources about online safety, digital responsibility, and fun, relatable everyday stories about parenting in the digital world. The app is expected to hit iTunes and Google Play by the end of the year.

We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving from our families to yours.