Filipinos spend an average of 45.5 minutes on the road during the daily commute according to the Global Traffic Index 2015. And as we all know, getting stuck in traffic is stressful.
“It increases your heart rate, it increases your blood pressure…and we know that if it increases your blood pressure for a long time, you develop heart disease… eventually you develop ‘yung mga heart attack.” says Dr. Gladys Mendoza, an internist at The Medical City.
Not only does traffic stress affect our health, it also negatively affects our energy, our quality of work, and the way we treat the people around us. Making time to de-stress is therefore key to living a productive and healthier life. Aside from social media, more forms of entertainment on-the go are now available to us- to help ease stress – Spotify, *Netflix, Steam.
Listen to your favorite music without Wi-Fi
Spotify is a free music platform that lets you stream your favorite music on your computer, mobile, or tablet. The free version, however, contains occasional advertisements that play in between songs. Spotify offers a Premium service which lets you listen to your favorite High-Definition songs without ads offline. A monthly subscription to Spotify Premium costs only P129 per month, a worthy cost for millions of songs in return.
Watch unlimited movies and TV series with Netflix
The biggest US Movie and TV streaming service, *Netflix just recently launched worldwide, including the Philippines in January of 2016. The basic package is P370 which already allows users to watch unlimited TV series, movies, documentaries, feature films on any Internet-powered device. Netflix offers the first month free for users who want to try out the service. Now commuters coming home from work can just lie down and relax with popular TV Series like Suits, How to Get Away with Murder, or Sherlock.
For those who don’t have big data plans, movies are available for rent or sale on *Google Play Store or the *App Store, which can be downloaded to your device so you can watch your favorite movies and TV series offline after.
Read to enjoy the cheapest but most productive way to pass time
Reading books is the most inexpensive and most productive way to escape stress while sharpening your mind. Buying e-books in general is cheaper than buying hard copies. *Google Play Store, the *App Store, and Amazon’s Kindle app offer myriad selections to choose from and read. If your eyes are too tired already, you can listen to podcasts as an alternative. The Internet has hundreds of free interesting podcasts that discuss fascinating topics about culture, philosophy, business, technology, history, comedy and more.
These ideas can get exciting but they require a credit card before you can try them out (except for podcasts). For non-credit cardholders who are interested in subscribing to Spotify, Netflix, or buying items from app stores, an available solution is PayMaya.
PayMaya is a free app that allows users to pay online without a credit card. All you have to do is download the app and activate your virtual Visa card on the app to create your personal card number, expiry date, and CVV–all the numbers you need in order to pay online. Users can then load up at 7-eleven Cliqq kiosks, Robinson’s Department Stores, or SM Business Centers, and other PayMaya Load Up Partners before using their PayMaya account. PayMaya is accepted at any online and brick-and-mortar establishment accepting Visa.
With entertainment on-the-go, not only daily commutes are less stressful, they can even be the most rewarding part of your day.
For more information about PayMaya, visit www.paymaya.com.
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About PayMaya Philippines
PayMaya Philippines, part of the Voyager Group, is the digital financial services unit of PLDT and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart). PayMaya, its mobile app that comes with a prepaid card, is now the leading over-the-top digital payments app in the Philippine market. Among its innovations include Smart Money, the pioneering mobile money service linked to the Smart SIM and mobile phone and Smart Padala, the leading domestic remittance service brand in the market.
*Note: Netflix, Google Play Store, and App Store will send you authorization fees. Authorization requests are requests sent by the app to the financial institution (PayMaya), to verify that your payment method works. Authorization/approval fees are usually $1-2 and are refunded back to you after a certain period depending on the app’s terms and conditions.
