What websites do you browse that are not mind-numbing?

[6monthsin]

By stuff I guess I mean articles or websites that improve My brain rather than dim it

I’m 40 soon and I’ve had an iPhone for nearly 10 years. This is 10 years of filling my head with gossipy crap. I’m ashamed to say my go-to websites are MN for real life drama, DM for celeb crap, FB and IG for a mix of the previous two. Lo and behold I always feel somewhat empty after reading this shite. Occasionally MN turns up something interesting but for the most part I feel like I’ve browsed my 30s away looking at other people’s shite whilst simultaneously numbing my brain. Now I don’t want entertainment, I want something more intellectually more stimulating. Or something that feels more educational or thought-provoking.

Where do I get this? Maybe I just need to start reading real books more..... Maybe it’s time to “put the phone down”.....

Brain Pickings!

The Times subscription. I read it cover to cover and do the crossword.

TheAnswerIsInABookSomewhere ditto BrainPickings is good- very thought provoking, sometimes a bit heavy for me - so I may delete that week's newsletter and pick up the following week.

On Being I also like.

Bill Gates - GatesNotes. His review of books- he has a massive effect. Anything he recommends leads to a huge waiting list for the book at my local library.

Big Think I have this tab open at the moment.

The Conversation I like as it's usually evidence based, but not academic paper level information.

And I always enjoy a browse of The Kids Should See This

The opinion is free but if the guardian

Following and a hopeful bump op - there’s only so much Megan Markle a girl can take!

The Daily Wire

www.dailywire.com/

Ben Shapiro on YouTube

youtube.com/channel/UCnQC_G5Xsjhp9fEJKuIcrSw

www.breitbart.com/

And

www.breitbart.com/europe/

Archive Of Our Own and fanfiction.net. It does rather stretch the definition of ‘improving the brain’ depending on what you read, mind you.

mentalfloss.com/
Quirky website for short visits about all kinds of stuf!

I’ve signed up to a few of the ones already suggested- thank you
My 21 year old son introduced me to ’Quora’
Lots of questions - from anyone - and answers on any subject. Some answers are really informative and interesting and (as far as you can tell on the internet) appear to be by people knowledgeable in that field.

theoatmeal.com/

Amusing which is sometimes just as good as the intellectual stuff.

If you want to enhance your geography knowledge, this is brilliant

geoguessr.com/

It takes you to somewhere on Google’s street view and you have to guess where you are! There are clues and you can restrict it to Europe etc! You’ll be hooked.

Thankyou so much - I have just signed up for Quora and The conversation as well as Brain Pickings!

I read Vice sometimes for some unusual / interesting articles.

I absolutely love Brain Pickings, my favourite. Do sign up to the email newsletter as well, I always really enjoy it.

Also vice, quora, quartz (www.qz.com) for varied global news, thefword for uk feminist based updates, the fair observer, mental floss, curiosity.com, bigthink.com, aeon.co, reddit is easy to get lost on once you get a grip with using it.

For more women based stuff rather than intellectual or philosophical stimulation, blood and milk, darlingmagazine I've recently started looking at.

Thought about giving podcasts a go OP? Great way to stimulate the mind but not sit down and read or be at a screen.

Yes I just started getting into podcasts and the advantage is you can move around or do there stuff while listening.

The guilty feminist never fails to make me LOL.

Download Reddit and just browse through the ‘front page’ - there are mini-forums called ‘subreddits’ for pretty much anything under the sun, from nature photos, fashion and current affairs to fandoms for tv shows, books, games and films, memes, their own version of AIBU, diy... the list is endless and I always learn something new or have a chuckle.

There’s a lot of crap on there (and some scary right-wingers too) but you don’t have to look at that stuff if you dont want to.

Amazing thanks all!!

Will check these out and report back!

I don’t really need an excuse to spend more time on my phone but if I’m putting my brain to better use then it will be an improvement nonetheless