Great question and something I’ve been struggling with as well. A few things I like to do to make “down time” more productive:
- listen to podcasts and take notes, which I then turn into mini mind maps (it helps me remember concepts and linking ideas together)
- I do brand and marketing work, so I often use phone time to doodle early logo concepts, draft storyboards, start composing shots for photo shoots... etc. I find the constraints of the small screen quite interesting as it obliges me to veer towards simpler designs (I use Google Keep which allows for zooming in and out easily, and seamlessly integrates with the laptop version)
- whiteboarding (again in Google Keep or Miro) is also something I love to do on a phone, usually for processes and/or identity systems where I’d collate references for a projects into a single document for future use
- photo editing / story editing using VSCO and Over is a great way to use phone time productively. I often prepare visuals for blog posts or social stories that way,
- financial planning (probably less creative than the rest, but also a good way to spend phone time and many workflows are actually faster on mobile): I use a virtual bank (Monzo, in the U.K.) so I use phone time to label/categorise spend, visualise budgets, pay anything that needs paying and create simpler invoices with a Google Sheet template and pdf exports to Dropbox
Many more options, but these are my major uses. Looking forward to reading the other answers!
- listen to podcasts and take notes, which I then turn into mini mind maps (it helps me remember concepts and linking ideas together)
- I do brand and marketing work, so I often use phone time to doodle early logo concepts, draft storyboards, start composing shots for photo shoots... etc. I find the constraints of the small screen quite interesting as it obliges me to veer towards simpler designs (I use Google Keep which allows for zooming in and out easily, and seamlessly integrates with the laptop version)
- whiteboarding (again in Google Keep or Miro) is also something I love to do on a phone, usually for processes and/or identity systems where I’d collate references for a projects into a single document for future use
- photo editing / story editing using VSCO and Over is a great way to use phone time productively. I often prepare visuals for blog posts or social stories that way,
- financial planning (probably less creative than the rest, but also a good way to spend phone time and many workflows are actually faster on mobile): I use a virtual bank (Monzo, in the U.K.) so I use phone time to label/categorise spend, visualise budgets, pay anything that needs paying and create simpler invoices with a Google Sheet template and pdf exports to Dropbox
Many more options, but these are my major uses. Looking forward to reading the other answers!