5 Things You Didn’t Know You Needed To Get Through Uni

by Dean on July 25, 2013

Life at Uni isn’t all drinking, late nights and studying. There are a lot of late nights, which involve studying and usually result in drinking, but there’s also a lot of researching and planning involved. Modern day technology has made Uni life a little more tolerable, the invention of Facebook, smart phones, tablets and WIFI have made learning and planning much easier and these devices can really help you get through your time at Uni without a breakdown. So take a look at the technology the Urban Insider recommends you get a hold of to help you both survive and get the most out of Uni.

The first thing you’ll need for Uni is a Facebook page. When things get tough Facebook is officially the easiest place to get in contact with other people in your degree to ask questions, chances are that they are having the same problems. Unofficially, it’s the best place to kill time during a mind-numbing lecture and watch the Uni’s ‘Stalker-Space’ page to see if anyone in your class is talking about you.

The second thing you will need is a smart phone. There are a couple of reasons for needing a smart phone at Uni, firstly you need to have constant internet access to keep in touch with people in your group over apps such as ‘drop box’ and ‘file share’ if and when you are assigned a group work task. Secondly, having internet access in your pocket means you can check your grades and assignment marks at any time without having to go searching for a computer. Thirdly, Uni is one of the best times of your life and our generation is one the first to have access to handy cams and digital cameras that fit in out pockets, so having a smart phone means you can snap and record all of the fun times you have during your time at Uni.

The next thing you need to survive Uni is a laptop. There are an abundance of computers at pretty much every university, but having your own laptop means you can avoid trekking into Uni every time you need to work on or submit an assignment. A home desktop can also work, but the portability of a laptop means you can start a task at Uni and take it home without messing around with emailing it to yourself or sending it to a drop box.

Another item you can benefit from is a tablet. Some people can’t see the point in having a table and a laptop, but tablets are a lot easier to carry around and take up less space on your desk than most laptops do. Most tablets now (excluding Ipads) have the ability to use Microsoft Word and even have detachable keyboards, so they can be very handy when sitting in lectures.

Lastly, the thing that every Uni student needs is a good old-fashioned pen and paper. All of this new technology makes researching and socializing at Uni a lot easier, but when all else fails, you can always rely on your pen. It sounds obvious now, but depending on your degree, you may go days without ever thinking about writing on paper because you’re on a laptop or tablet all day. However, batteries die, systems crash and people forget to hit save, so the best thing you can do is write notes and type them up later.

Some of these things may seem obvious, especially if you’re already attending Uni, but people forget that leaving these gadgets at home in order to avoid distractions while studying, can actually make life harder than it needs to be. So grab whatever new internet-capable note-taking gadget you can find show it off, it’s sure to help you in the long run.