Where Smart People Spend Their Free Time Online

Where you spend free time online is just as important as how you spend that free time.

👊 The Punch List:

• The average American visits 130 web pages a day.

• Most people visit social media and news sites that make them feel worse.

• How you spend your free time online can create more productive habits

• Social media itself isn’t negative, if used in the right ways.

3 Best Sites To Spend Free Time

Quora

This site is a never ending library of questions and answers. People go in and write any and every question you could possibly think of. And then some expert or “wannabe expert” will come and give you their best answer to the question. There’s no cost to ask or answer. It’s essentially free knowledge for everyone.

It’s good because you can find answers on things super specific to your situation. And if someone hasn’t asked the question you have, you can ask it. It’s great to get insights from people from all different walks of life on all different kinds of subjects. You’re bound to be more knowledgeable using this site.

Ways I use this site include reading some insightful answers when taking poop to asking tough business questions when I don’t know what to do.

Medium

This site is a simple collection of written articles from writers across the web. The only difference is the quality of writers and experience on this site. It attracts some of the most profound and researched writers in the world. If Quora is quick bites of knowledge, Medium is artful essays.

It’s good because the writers on this site can actually make money from their work. This attracts high quality content and things that really do stimulate your mind. It feels like everyone is dedicated to sharing honest, helpful, engaging words of wisdom. You almost guaranteed to leave Medium having an “aha” moment.

Ways I use this site include reading essays in my doctor’s waiting room or anytime I have 10 minutes or less to learn something.

YouTube

This site is the only one the list you should absolutely know already. But for the sake of “anomalies”, I’ll explain. YouTube is videos on demand. The site has videos on pretty much any subject from people in hundreds of countries and all different walks of life.

It’s good because YouTube is not just a site for entertainment but also one for education. As much as it pains me to say this, it’s hard to compete with the bast library of free education you can stumble upon on YouTube. And when you education is near your entertainment, you can’t help but get smarter.

Ways I use this site include ending my day with YouTube to get the news in a digestible form and finding quick tutorials on new things I want to learn.

As we shift to a more digital world, the places we spend our time becomes more important. If you silo yourself off into communities that all regurgitate the same thoughts, your mind will never expand. If you engage on sites that prop up vanity metrics, your ego will one day break you. And if you find places that make you smarter, and more open-minded you’ll only grow in your intelligence.

As WIPs, our time is extremely valuable. And we need time to take breaks, but if we take those breaks in the wrong places with the wrong crowds it will stifle us. When we find places that help us grow even fractionally, the time we spend there adds value to everyone involved.

Next time your bored, ask a Quora question, read a Medium post, or dive down a new YouTube rabbit hole. Your mind will thank you for it…

In progress,

Tim