At that place's a lot of content out there almost productivity -- everything from hacks to shortcuts to tips and tricks for how to get more than done in less time.

It'south all about the sprint, the checking things off the listing, and the downloading of software that'll block out whatever and all distractions.

But what near those times when you only want to surf the internet frantically? No one can be hyper-productive all the fourth dimension, and studies have shown that taking deliberate breaks after periods of work is really meliorate for your productivity. The question is, how do yous spend those breaks? Y'all could check your e-mail, simply that still counts equally working. You lot could check Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, but at that place's something so mundane nearly haphazardly scrolling through your peripheral friends' photos.

Nosotros have a few better ideas. Here'due south a shortlist of the about wonderfully entertaining places to waste product fourth dimension on the internet outside of e-mail and social media. Get fix to bookmark your favorites.

Download Now: How to Be More Productive at Work [Free Guide + Templates]

Cool Websites

1. WaitButWhy

WaitButWhy website header

WaitButWhy is i of my favorite places to spend fourth dimension on the internet. Every week or so, a guy named Tim Urban churns out one, actually long, really awesome article. (Seriously, they're canonical. You can kill a lot of fourth dimension reading only one of them.)

His articles are always fascinating, in-depth, and really well written. His writing style is the perfect mix of informative and humorous -- making topics like the Fermi Paradox (the what?) approachable for someone like me who'd never heard of it before in my entire life. He writes about relationships, organized religion, outer infinite ... pretty much everything.

My favorite posts of his include "Everything Yous Don't Know About Tipping," "The Great Perils of Social Interaction," and "Your Life in Weeks" (which has some crawly graphics in it, past the way). He fifty-fifty wrote a bang-up post on why procrastinators procrastinate, which anyone reading this article might want to check out.

ii. The Oatmeal

The Oatmeal website header

The Oatmeal is another one of my accented favorite places to spend fourth dimension online. It's a huge library of awesome content -- some comprised entirely of graphics. Even if you've read everything already, information technology's the kind of stuff you can read over and over again.

Some of my favorite posts include:

  • Why Working From Home is Both Crawly and Horrible.
  • How the Male Angler Fish Got Completely Screwed (I think I legitimately cried laughing when I first read that one).
  • X Words You Need to Cease Misspelling.
  • You're Not Going to Believe What I'm Most to Tell You.

3. Supercook

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If you desire to surf the net in a semi-productive fashion -- but not so productive that you lot actually take to go out the house -- then cheque out Supercook.

Hither's how information technology works: You tell it which ingredients you take in stock in your dwelling house, and information technology'll give you a big listing of recipes you can brand using just those ingredients. It'south a fun fashion to stay thrifty, clean out the refrigerator, and make sure food doesn't go to waste.

4. OCEARCH Shark Tracker

OCEARCH Shark Tracker website header

Tracking sharks as they swim around the ocean may non exist the nigh conventional way to waste time on the cyberspace ... merely it might exist the coolest.

The Track Sharker tool by Marine Research Grouping OCEARCH lets you rail tagged sharks -- who all have names, by the manner -- equally they travel all over the world. Y'all can even zoom in on a specific location to see which sharks are hanging out at that place and where they've been swimming and traveling for the by year. Become, Hilton, go!

five. Apartment Therapy

Apartment Therapy website header

If you're even a little bit of a fan of dwelling house decor or DIY projects, this is a website you might find yourself spending hours and hours on. There's a ton of awesome visual and written content on here. My favorites include their "earlier and subsequently" series, their "modest spaces" series, and the tours of people's actual apartments and homes.

Plus, they take a whole lot of helpful manufactures giving tips on everything from how to redo your stairs to ideas for using that awkward space above your fridge. There'south no shortage of useful and fun information on here, making information technology prime for endless browsing.

One of our own was recently featured on ApartmentTherapy too -- check out INBOUND Elijah's adorable spot hither.

half-dozen. A Soft Murmur

Website header for A Soft Murmur, one of the best websites for wasting time on the internet

When taking a intermission from your usual piece of work grind, set yourself upwardly for true focus with A Soft Murmur. This website is your customizable white-noise car. Its dashboard, bachelor as an app for both iOS and Android, gives you slidable book confined for five different nature sounds: rain, thunder, waves, wind, and burn down.

This website allows you to independently adjust the book of each of its five sound effects, creating an outdoor ambience that resembles your favorite soothing activity. Turn on "Waves" and "Fire" for the audio of a beach blaze. Turn on "Pelting" and "Thunder" for the sound of a distant storm outside your firm.

seven. LEGO Videos

lego-video-themes

You might've seen the recent (and awesome) LEGO Movie, just did you know LEGO's interest in on-screen amusement began much before than that? Believe information technology or non, LEGO has been creating hours of video content long earlier we saw them in theatres, and all of these videos are sorted by theme and story on its website.

For every pop-culture phenomenon to ever steal our attention, at that place's a LEGO video series version ready to steal our hearts. Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Scooby Doo, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter ... the list goes on. Tune into LEGO'due south video channel and savor.

8. Gravity Points

Website header for Gravity Points, one of the best websites for wasting time on the internet

Gravity Points is a digital "pen" created past Akimitsu Hamamuro, and information technology is quite mesmerizing. The website simulates the effect of gravity by assuasive yous to plot small gravity centers across your screen. And then, even smaller floating objects will flock to these gravity centers and orbit them.

The more gravity centers you lot plot, the more these forces volition start to compete, making your screen all the more chaotic. And yes, your gravity points can absorb ane another to create a black hole. It's outer infinite correct in that location on your calculator screen.

9. Pottermore

pottermore-website

As a marketer, you might dive so deep into branding your business, you have no time to make yourself. Even if you're non a massive Harry Potter fan, Pottermore can scratch that crawling for you.

Pottermore is widely recognized as the official website for finding your Patronus, your wand blazon, the Hogwarts Firm you vest to (of course), and much more. The quizzes you take to earn these identities are just obscure enough to concur your excitement for the effect, and might even encourage you to read (or reread) the famous Harry Potter books -- something you should definitely do to balance out your time-wasting website sessions.

Funny Websites

10. xkcd

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If you're into nerdy humor even the littlest, tiniest fleck, there's a lot to love nearly xkcd. Each postal service features a short, stick-figure comic strip on humor most technology, science, mathematics, and relationships. The guy behind it is Randall Munroe, who worked on robots at NASA'south Langley Research Center in Virginia before starting this blog.

Beneath is an example of one of his comic strips. (He ever includes a joke in the comic strip image's alt text, so if you look at the strips on the xkcd website, be sure to hover your mouse over the image to catch those jokes.)

Source : xkcd

11. BuzzFeed "Comments" Sections

BuzzFeed website header

You lot already know BuzzFeed is a great identify to waste time on the internet, merely we're looking beyond the actual commodity here. Scroll down to the "comments" department of pretty much whatever commodity for a hilarious showcase of the crazy (I mean crazy) stuff people are maxim. I detect information technology peculiarly entertaining to read the comments on beneficial topics that shouldn't make people and so irate, but practice anyhow.

12. The Toast

The Toast website header

If you're into groovy (and hilarious) fiction writing, then you'll definitely want to bookmark this site. Every twenty-four hour period, writers Nicole Cliffe and Mallory Ortberg publish a post on "everything from literary characters that never were to female pickpockets of Gold Rush-era San Francisco," reads their Well-nigh folio.

To get an thought of whether information technology'south up your alley, kickoff with their post, "A Twenty-four hours in the Life of Seth MacFarlane, Human Male (Definitely Not a Swarm of Hyper-Alert Bees and a Metallic Jaw.)" It's simply so good.

thirteen. The Onion

The Onion website banner

If you oasis't spent some quality time reading the online satirical newspaper The Onion, and so you're seriously missing out on a expert express mirth. (And y'all've kind of been living under a rock.) But seriously, I sometimes forget how consistently hysterical the articles are.

The publication started in 1988 and they've managed to successfully maintain a loftier standard for humor and writing ever since. Their headlines are laugh-out-loud funny in and of themselves -- from "Free-Thinking Cat Sh**s Exterior the Box" to "Archaeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race of Skeleton People" to "Buyer Of $450 One thousand thousand Da Vinci Painting Sort Of Causeless It Would Come With Frame."

Of class, their headlines existence hilarious makes sense, seeing as the headline is where each story begins. This awesome episode of NPR's This American Life gives you a really cool peek into The Onion'southward editorial process.

(Bonus: ClickHole, their sis website that makes fun of Upworthy-style viral content on the cyberspace, is another great identify to waste material some time.)

14. Cracked

cracked-magazine

Like to The Onion, Cracked is a pseudo magazine for your everyday life -- and yeah, information technology will crack y'all up. But while The Onion gives you a satirical accept on a real news trend, Cracked makes snarky popular-civilisation observations that are ironic or just ridiculous by design. Sometimes the writers volition say the one matter everyone'south thinking, but is afraid to say out loud. That's Croaky for yous.

Yous might merely be passing time on this online mag, but with respect to some of its most popular articles and pictures, it's time well spent. Hither are a few ridiculous think pieces from Cracked to whet your appetite:

  • The Actual Answers to 6 Famously Unsolved Picture/Idiot box Mysteries
  • seven Hilarious Means Reality Would Ruin Famous Movie Scenes
  • five Random Questions You Didn't Know Y'all Wanted Answered
  • 6 Underrated (and Selfish) Benefits of Parenthood

Websites for News & Information

15. Mental Floss

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Mental Floss is a super addicting online magazine with articles covering a actually broad range of topics. Their articles are really well written, really well researched, and unremarkably on topics that don't get a lot of airtime.

For example, in their "Large Questions" section, they tackle weirdly intriguing questions like why shells sound like the ocean and why yawns are contagious. Readers can even submit their own large questions.

16. HowStuffWorks

HowStuffWorks website banner

This website is dedicated entirely to -- you guessed it -- how things work. And past "things," they mean everything: from airbags to regenerative medicine to velocipede carousels. They've covered then much on this website, it'll be hard to run out of things to read about.

Plus, they have a whole bunch of actually cool podcasts that have branched off the principal site over the years and are worth checking out. My favorites are "Stuff You lot Should Know," "BrainStuff," and "Stuff Mom Never Told You."

17. Lifehacker

Lifehacker is a hub of productivity tips, tricks, and downloads. It'south basically an archive of all the information information technology would be incredibly useful to know, but nobody ever actually teaches yous. Aside from productivity, they also cover topics such as coin-saving tips, clever uses for household items, and then on.

For example, did you know yous tin buy alcoholic beverages at Costco without a membership? Or that you can peel a mango in nether x seconds? Or that there are 4 lengths of naps that'll do good you in different, very specific ways? Along with the fun manufactures, they have some pretty awesome, in-depth manufactures, like this i on how to plant ideas in someone'due south mind, also equally helpful listicles like the top ten obscure Google Search tricks.

At that place'due south so much content on there that it can be hard to find posts on specific topics. Use the Lifehacker Alphabetize for an introduction to their top-performing posts and tips on how to find posts on any topic on the website.

18. Mix

Website banner for Mix, formerly StumbleUpon

Sometimes you want to surf the internet, merely don't want to practice all the paddling. For that, there's Mix.

Yous might know the above website by its onetime name, StumbleUpon, a site (and an addition to your internet browser) that allowed yous to select topics that interested you and so served you various news and information that fit those interests. Today, it's called Mix, and it puts a new spin on StumbleUpon's pop content randomizer.

Mix lets y'all set your reader profile and then share the articles, photos, and videos you discover from your ain personal "mix." It's a convenient manner to entertain yourself and learn new things past simply telling the web to surprise y'all.

19. Space.com

Space.com website banner

As long equally your head is in the clouds, raise it in a higher place Earth's horizon and head on over to Space.com. This website reports on astronomy news and trends through friendly, easy-to-assimilate content that, sometimes, just serves to quench your thirst for a cool nebulous shot of our solar system. Who knows? Maybe you'll tap your inner space enthusiast.

Whether you want to see an object burn up in our atmosphere or get existent into the weeds of how a black hole forms, Infinite.com has something for anybody. Get your prepare today with this amazing film of a greenish aurora seen from the International Space Station, part of Space.com's "Epitome of the Day" series.

Websites for When You're Bored

20. Imgur

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Imgur collects the most viral images of the calendar week and collects them all in one identify for your mindless scrolling and enjoyment. What I like near Imgur is it's ordinarily more than timely than Twitter or Instagram -- more popular sharing networks where funny pictures and memes might appear a week or ii later on. Utilize Imgur to waste fourth dimension and innovate your friends to the funniest stuff on the internet first.wx1

21. Animal Planet Kitten and Puppy Cams

USTREAM of cats from Animal Planet's kitten and puppy cam

Puppies and kittens. What could exist better? I have this website bookmarked for whenever I need a pick-me-upwards. You can check out a live stream from animal shelters in the U.S. to see some of the adoptable cuties in action.

22. Zillow

Zillow website banner

Information technology's fun to cheque out real estate in areas you might desire to live -- and it's but as fun to check it out in places you'll probably never live, simply would dear to in a dream world. Go ahead and explore what'due south out at that place. Y'all can ready saved searches (some more realistic than others) to relive your discoveries subsequently.

23. Google Maps Street View

Google Maps

In the same vein as Zillow, information technology's wildly entertaining to go to Google Maps and zoom in on the street view in random places effectually the globe. It's so strange and thrilling to run across what life was like at a random moment in time, on a random street somewhere yous may never visit in your lifetime.

I recommend the Palace of Versailles in France, Mountain Everest Base of operations Camp in Nepal, the Swiss Alps, and the Groovy Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. (Aye, they have underwater cameras.)

24. Wikipedia

Wikipedia logo

You didn't call back I'd write a post on where to waste matter time on the internet without including Wikipedia, did you? Of course not. You've gotta love spiraling into the proverbial Wikipedia black hole: Look up one thing, and and so check out something that'south interlinked to it. Before you know it, you'll have charted the entire Russian Revolution. (Read: This is an actual glimpse into my colleague Corey's Sunday morning.)

If you want to get more involved while wasting time online, remember Wikipedia is based on a model of openly editable content -- every bit in, anyone can edit any unprotected page. So if y'all're into editing and updating content in your free fourth dimension, it's yours to edit. (Equally long as you follow their guidelines.)

25. Giphy

Giphy website banner and search bar

When you lot demand to observe the perfect GIF, you can't just stop at the first result y'all get for "dancing" or "bad-mannered" or "animals being jerks." I could spend (... and have spent) hours on Giphy looking for juuust the correct GIF. How long practise you think it took Ellie here to come up with all ten of the ones in this mail service? Totally worth information technology.

26. Wayback Machine

Wayback Machine website banner and search bar

Feeling nostalgic? Check out what websites have looked similar over the years via Internet Archive's famous Wayback Motorcar. It lets you pick a engagement and see exactly what any website looked like at that time. (For a real trip, compare how Facebook looked back in the 2000s to today. Call up the wall-to-wall?)

If y'all just want to take a quick peek, check out this roundup of what 9 famous websites used to wait similar. All the images in that post were taken from the Wayback Machine.

27. The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail website preview for online game

Here'south a piddling gift for those of you lot who fabricated it to the end of this post: Internet Archive -- yes, the aforementioned one responsible for the Wayback Machine -- made it possible for people to PLAY THE COMPUTER GAME "OREGON TRAIL" Once again. I tin practically hear all the Gen X'ers out in that location screaming with joy.

If "Oregon Trail" isn't your cup of tea, the other games made available by Internet Archive include "Duke Nukem," "Street Fighter," "Burger Blaster," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "The Panthera leo King," and "Chuck Yeager'due south Avant-garde Flight Trainer." Check out the total library hither.

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Originally published Aug 31, 2018 12:21:00 AM, updated February 23 2022