Given enough time, all gadgets slow down—smartphones included. Your Android might start slowing down randomly, and there are times when even a reboot won’t really fix things. You don’t necessarily have to shell out hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on a new phone, though. Your old one might just need a clean out.

When nothing else seems to be speeding your Android phone back up, you should try some cache maintenance. As you use your Android phone, the apps (and especially Chrome) start saving temporary files it thinks you’ll need. These are used to speed up page loads and to keep older files in memory. That’s great when you have a fast flagship with loads of extra memory to spare. But if your Android phone is a bit older, you’ll be surprised how much lighter things become once you let go of some of that cache.

In fact, it’s a good idea to do this regularly—even every couple of weeks. It might seem a bit counterintuitive, as the cache is supposed to keep your phone faster, but lightening the digital load is often the way to go for older devices.

How to clear the cache for any app on an Android smartphone

Sometimes it’s a third-party app gone rogue that’s hogging all that cache memory. Android’s Settings app will make it easy to find such a culprit. Go to Storage > Apps to see a list of all installed apps. From the Menu, switch to the Sort by Size option, and you’ll see the apps that are most hogging up the storage. The exact steps to find the Apps section might be different depending on your Android smartphone, but you can search for Storage or Apps to get there. 

Go through the apps, and choose an app to clear the cache. Apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are all major offenders of the cache system. In the app screen, tap the Clear Cache button to see the cache data instantly disappear. Now, go back to the list, and do this again, and again, at least for the top 10 apps that are taking up most of the cache.

How to clear the cache in Chrome 

The biggest cache hog on your smartphone is likely Chrome, and if you’ve never cleared the cache, you might notice quite the difference before and after. If you don’t use Chrome, do this for your default browser. The changes will be the same. 

Open the Chrome browser, tap Menu and go to History > Clear Browsing Data. First, switch to the All Time option at the top and make sure you’ve checked the Cached images and files option below. Then, tap the Clear Data button to clear the cache.

Keep doing this regularly for Chrome and the rest of your apps on Android. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you should do the same there as well. 

Source: LifeHacker – How to Clear the Cache on an Android Smartphone

Maybe you learned how to use an Epipen when your child was diagnosed with food allergy; you took a CPR course before your baby was born; and you have first aid supplies stashed in your car, office, and home. Injuries and accidents are inevitable in life, and we want to be prepared.

But the reality is that one out of five youth and adolescents has a mental health condition—so shouldn’t parents be prepared to provide first aid for mental health as well? You can learn skills now to recognize signs of a problem and help your child find the appropriate professional help if they need it. if you’ve ever tried to help someone through a mental health crisis, you know how frightening and helpless you can feel—so why not empower yourself now, just in case your child experiences a crisis down the road?

What is Mental Health First Aid?

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is training to help someone who is in a mental health crisis, or just beginning to have a mental health problem. This type of training can be especially useful for parents and people who work with children, like teachers and coaches.

You can choose between taking a course to help adults with mental health problems or a course tailored for helping adolescents, aged 12-18. In both cases, you can choose between in-person training (if it’s available in your area), blended in-person (with a virtual component and a live component), or a completely virtual course.

What you’ll learn

A one-day MFHA course usually takes about six to eight hours, covering discussion topics, exercises, and opportunities to practice your new skills.

The youth MFHA training course emphasizes early intervention, since 75 percent of mental illnesses start by the time a person is in their mid-20s.

Mental health first aid is based on a five-step action plan called ALGEE:

• Assess for risk of suicide or harm.

• Listen without judgment.

• Give reassurance and information.

• Encourage appropriate professional help.

• Encourage self-help and other support strategies.

You will also learn warning signs and risk factors for mental health problems like eating disorders, ADHD, depression, mood disorders, anxiety, trauma, psychosis, and substance abuse. During training, you will become familiar with information about treatment options and self-help strategies so you can share those options with the person you’re helping. You will be able to support young people experiencing the following situations:

• Panic attacks

• Suicidal thoughts or behaviors

• Nonsuicidal self-injury

• Hallucinations or delusions

• Overdose or withdrawal from substances

• A traumatic event

• Bullying

• Social media problems

Besides taking in information through the course materials and lecture, you will have opportunities to practice through role-playing.

Benefits for parents

Any teen could experience one of the mental health scenarios listed above, and many parents may not know where to start supporting them. It may feel powerless to tell your child to “calm down” or “cheer up” and see no improvement in their mental state. MHFA training teaches you how to assess their symptoms, start conversations, and reach out for professional help.

While the goal is to teach you to help someone struggling with their mental health, a nice side benefit is that your mental health literacy will increase too. Research shows that MHFA training improves the mental health of both the trainee and the person they support.

Other benefits of MHFA training:

• Reduced stigma around mental illness and substance use

• Increased empathy

• More confidence to help someone in distress

• Learning tools to support your own mental health

How to find an MHFA course

Follow this link to find the right mental health first aid training option for you. Filter courses by location, date, language, and in-person or virtual. The course is usually completed in one day and may cost $50-100.

Source: LifeHacker – How Parents Can Learn Mental Health First Aid (and Why You Should)

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for December 11, 2023 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is another easy one; I got it in three. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 11, Wordle #905! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

All five are common letters today!

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

It’s the place where you live, perhaps.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

Nope, five different letters today.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There are three vowels today, all different.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with H.

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with E.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is HOUSE.

How I solved today’s Wordle

The green ___SE was a great start, but I’m still potentially missing some vowels, so I go with my trusty second of TOUCH next. Looks like we’re dealing with _OUSE with a yellow H. It’s as good as solved: today’s word must be HOUSE.

Wordle 905 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: 

• Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

Source: LifeHacker – Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Monday, December 11, 2023