Hello and welcome to recommendation number sixteen of Blogmas 2020 with I’m NOT Disordered!
Today, I’ll be collaborating with O2 to recommend some of the apps I use the most…
MY TEN FAVOURITE APPS:
*in no particular order*
I’ve found that you’re so much more likely to get a response from an organisation if it’s on Twitter rather than through their customer service! I think it’s because of the publicity aspect of it… particularly when the individual has more followers than the organisation! So that’s the superficial side of Twitter. But it’s like I always say; social media and the internet is what you make of it. If you want to see negative, triggering content then search for it. If you’re looking for support or help, there’s plenty of that online too! I particularly enjoy the hashtag chats where, at a certain time on a certain day, people with something in common use the same hashtag to create a conversation amongst themselves. Sometimes these chats are actually fairly structured with an ice breaker and a theme; and I think this illustrates the huge potential Twitter has to create a safe, comfortable, and supportive forum for users to feel they can be unapologetically and unconditionally themselves.
FIVE FAVOURITE PERSON ACCOUNTS:
1. @DaveChawner
3. @CareLisette
4. @KerryDaynes
I think that Instagram has definitely driven to reach its potential with the number of users it now has, and the quality of the content being published. I mean, those who view social media to be their career, are becoming particularly talented and imaginative in the posts they create. Of course, they sort of have to be if it’s their job(!) and I think it’s become alike to blogging in that so many people are joining the industry that it’s now growing very competitive. You have to almost constantly work to better and better the content you produce in order to continue being successful at this. It definitely keeps you on your toes! My favourite part of Instagram is seeing this incredible content others have created – it makes me happy to see others put so much time and effort into their roles in this industry.
FIVE FAVOURITE ACCOUNTS:
1. @inthefrow
2. @zoesugg
5. @abbieblyth
Facebook Messenger
I’ve had Facebook for so long, yet I never knew you could opt to just use Messenger and not have an actual Facebook account/page! Although, knowing it, I don’t think it would change that I have both… I like to look at my Facebook account as my only selectively private social media platform. I think it’s fair to say that I’m very honest and open about a lot of areas in my life – that some might deem private – with a huge audience of mostly, complete strangers! So, it feels nice to have just one little place on the internet for me, and where I have more control and awareness over who sees the content I publish. I also find Messenger really helpful to me in that I use it to keep in contact with so many of my close friends and family and with the first UK Lockdown, my Mum and I used it a lot to have video chats.
Microsoft Teams
Teams is an app I’ve only discovered this year and only because of the first UK Lockdown! The Lockdown regulations obviously meant that almost all the meetings in my diary during that period of time were switched to take place virtually. This resulted in me discovering so many apps I’d never heard of nor used and part of me honestly felt like a bit of a fraud! I mean, what kind of ‘Blogger’ has never experienced a virtual meeting? How could someone with this big of an audience online have not used Microsoft Teams or Zoom?! Now that I feel I’ve experienced every single online meeting platform; I think I’m knowledgeable enough to determine that Microsoft Teams is my favourite!
Teal
So, this is a bit of a random app for this list but it’s one that I use a lot… Teal is basically has two functions; one is that it can be a countdown to something, and another is that it can record tallies of something. I got the idea for using this app from some posts I was seeing on Twitter where lots of people were tweeting about the amount of days there’d been since they’d last self-harmed or attempted suicide. And at first, I felt terrible that I didn’t think I could do that off my own bat; like I didn’t know if I could actually remember the exact last date I’d done something like that… and it made me think surely I should be able to keep that in my mind. But I think it’s because at my most poorly, I was self-harming so often. So, I discovered Teal – which is a free app! Also, worth mentioning that it isn’t just about self-harm! You can do countdowns to a holiday, a birth… you could use it to keep tallies when you’re playing a game with the family…
Moldiv
There’s a lot of controversary in the online world around editing photos for social media because a lot of people are keen that others demonstrate honesty and are up front about their appearance and the appearance of other people and things in their lives. And I totally agree that honesty is the best policy, but it’s also important to be happy and confident with the content you put out there… So, Moldiv is the free app I use to edit some of my photos – I actually also have their Video Lab app which I use to edit my vlogs! The app isn’t just about different filters and adding ‘stickers’ to your photos. There are so many more functions to it! And obviously even more if you opt to pay for some of the extra features – though I haven’t found any need to do this!
Disney+ UK
Disney Plus launched in the UK during our first Coronavirus Lockdown, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more apt launch of something! I mean, right when the nation was struggling with boredom from being shut in the house and loneliness from having to isolate and socially distance, Disney Plus to the rescue! I was very honoured to collaborate with them on a blog post (which you can read here) after creating an account and choosing some of my favourite Disney movies to quote and chat about. Since one of my best friend’s – who is a very hard-working member of NHS staff – shares her Amazon Prime Video account with me, I’ve shared the Disney account with her. It’s been so lovely reliving some of my youth through the older movies and it’s a nice change to watch something so light-hearted, imaginative and feel-good!
FIVE FAVOURITE MOVIES:
1. Frozen
2. Moana
3. Tangled
4. The Princess Diaries
5. Beauty and the Beast
I use Pinterest quite a lot for images on my blog posts! It’s actually where I got the baubles from to create the Blogmas logo! I really enjoy looking through the images and I feel like you could type anything into the search function and you’ll always find the right image for you! I ended up recommending Pinterest to the LEAPS Social Media Manager because she was struggling to find different gifs for the tweets and there’s always new images on Pinterest. Like, you could search for the same thing every day for a week and I guarantee you’ll find a least one new image each day! A lot of fashion Bloggers take inspiration from Pinterest for the reason that there’s always new, updated, content!
FIVE FAVOURITE CHRISTMASSY IMAGES:
Netflix
I’ve had Netflix for a few years now I think, and yet I’ve still not watched my entire ‘List’ of movies and series’ that I’m interested in. I think this is mainly due to two reasons: the first is that there’s always new releases. And the second is that I’m one of those people who can re-watch entire seasons of a programme that I’ve enjoyed. Some people like to discover new content so Netflix is also good for that; but you can also use it if you just want something on in the background – something that you’ve seen so you’re not totally distracted by it… I think it’s good that Netflix has probably the widest range of content I’ve ever seen from such an app! I mean there is literally something for every possible mood you could be in or whatever interest you might have!
FIVE FAVOURITE MOVIES/SERIES’:
1. Pitch Perfect
2. Gossip Girl
3. iZombie
4. The Hangover
5. Paranormal Activity 2, 3, and 4
YouTube
I actually use YouTube to listen to music by creating ‘Playlists’ of the music videos or live performances of my favourite songs. I usually play them when I first get up and I’m getting ready or when I’m typing blog posts/doing work on the computer because I like to have background noise and yet, because it’s just music, it isn’t distracting. I think music can be a very powerful resource when you’re struggling with your mental health. Songs have the power to either plunge you deeper and almost force you to confront things or sing them away and find yourself with a smile on your face! But it isn’t just music videos on YouTube; there’s also a huge amount of ‘challenge’ videos, funny compilations, and videos that give you insight into the lives of others.
FIVE FAVOURITE CHRISTMASSY VIDEOS: