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Re-adapting or trying to figure out a pace of the new year, we all have reflected on resolutions or at least a thought of wishes we’d like to accomplish this year both professionally and on a personal level. The fact that we have moved more and more of our activities in the online world is no secret. We’re spending an ever-increasing amount of time browsing social networks, news website, forums, and often times lose track of what we’re doing online. It’s not easy to be selective with the vast amount of information, services or activities available out there. Either you are a normal internet user looking for some plain old entertainment, keep track with what’s happening in the world, an art lover looking for some interesting projects or an aspiring artist looking for inspiration, here are a few ways to get the most out of the time you spend online.

Get Involved in Online Art Communities

If you are interested in different creative fields, produce works of your own or are an artist looking to connect with creatives from your field, there are numerous online galleries which foster these communities. You can showcase your own work, find inspiring projects and engage in discussions according to your interests. DeviantArt or Behance are just a few examples of this kind of communities, although social networking websites are also not short on groups or pages dedicated to arts.

Escape from Reality in Online Gaming/E-sports

From strategy games, traditional board games, plain old poker, and even social media games, this entertainment niche can have something to offer to anyone, regardless of demographics. It’s a great way to disconnect from reality, interact and cooperate with other players online and develop various memory or strategy skills. The variety of online game streaming or online game conferences available out there gives users a huge platform to become profficient. Who knows, you can even become a professional player or a caster. From an artists point of view, online games have been a great source of inspiration for visual arts like illustration or graphic design and have provided gamers with some incredible soundtracks. Be careful though – gaming is really addictive!

Get Inspired from Blog Reading and Forum Browsing

There’s a variety of blogs and websites out there on numerous topics, too bad our time is limited. How do you filter the content on the topics we’re interested in? Are you selective with the content you choose to read or to you let yourself bombarded with whatever articles Facebook suggests to you? There are services out there that combine all the benefits of a social networks, news and entertainment websites all in one. Reddit is just an example of one of those. Some of its subreddits offers great educational resources and gives you the opportunity to engage in discussions with people interested in similar topics. It’s also a great place to find inspiration or critique for your art.

Learn or Perfect a Skill Through Online Courses

You might as well use the time you spend online to join a virtual classroom and learn something new. Whether it’s a skill that will benefit your career, like design or a programming language, a creative course, learning a new instrument or just a subject you’re interested in, you can use the opportunity that many renowned University make their courses available online through Coursera or similar websites.

Enhance Every-day Things Through Simple Hacks

There are numerous websites with informative and catchy articles on how to improve and simplify routine tasks which we deal with on a daily basis. From social relations to nutrition, or exercising, you can improve your life by incorporating some of this advice into your life. Of course it’s important to be selective with such information and conduct your own research on what works best for you.

It seems that there are endless purposes we can use the Internet for. How do you spend your time online?

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