Morning Brew - 🧑‍💻Can you hear me?

Time-saving tools and products we’re really into rn.

Keep your desk nice and tidy with Courant’s sleek Mag:2 stand. It charges compatible iPhone and AirPod models wirelessly and doubles as a hands-free phone stand for video calls.

We know you’re psyched for scarf and sweater season, but before you blow your paycheck, sort out what you’ve already got with the Acloset app. This 2022 version of Cher’s high-tech closet takes pictures of your clothes and puts together outfits. No more dreaded mismatches!

Struggling to get your family to understand what exactly it is you do from 9-to-5? This Atlantic article rounds up first-person descriptions of everyday jobs in a number of industries from book editing to project management and even grape-growing.

A head start on your hustle.

First-time managers: Listen up!

Been promoted to management? Congrats! Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the responsibilities? We’re here for you. As a manager, you’ll need to know how to set direction, guide team members, provide feedback, and build a team culture that drives results.

Listening is the most important skill you’ll need in your toolbox once you have a team to lead. Being a manager doesn’t mean you need to do more talking; it means you need to do more listening.

Keep reading for three ways to become a better listener (and leader) for your team.—Karen Hebert-Maccaro, Morning Brew’s Queen of the Eduverse

Tech tips and tricks.

Hands down, the most annoying thing about smartphones is the unnecessary amount of notifications that flood your lock screen. But when you rage delete them all, some important information may get lost. Luckily, you can revisit your alerts at a later time using the notification history feature on Android and iOS. For Google Pixel 6, go to Settings > Notifications > Notification history. Then toggle Notification history on. Now, once you dismiss a notification, it’ll go to the history page where it’ll live for 24 hours.

iOS 16 has a similar feature called Notification Summary. Go to Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Summary and toggle the option on. Set the time you want to receive a summary, then adjust the preview settings to your liking. And there you have it—a less chaotic phone. (P.S. You can turn off notifications for individual apps, too, but that’s another Lifehack. )—SS

Burning questions of our time.

Companies across the country have tried to incentivize workers to RTO by promoting the benefits of in-person collaboration and offering cool perks. But the effort hasn’t quite convinced workers who believe that the home office trumps the office office. The issues aren’t new, though: There are complaints that open floor plans are distracting, commuting and buying lunches create additional expenses, not all hybrid team members show up on the same days, and for working parents, finding affordable childcare is a more Herculean task than ever.

So, is this the moment to examine how to make the physical office a better place? What does the office of the future look like? What spaces and amenities should be available to all employees as offices reopen? Is it worth it for companies to invest in office spaces and perks? Hit Reply and chat with us in the Inbox!—SS

And now, your thoughts on student loan forgiveness:

“Student loan forgiveness should not happen under any circumstances. The student entered into a contract with the loan institution in order to purchase a product: education. If a person is of the age that they can vote, enlist in the military, or purchase a firearm, then they are old enough to be responsible for their student loan debt. The fix is for the institutions to underwrite their own loans. This will put an end to loans for frivolous degrees for obvious reasons.”—Dan

“University should be free. Completely. All student loans should be forgiven. It works well in other countries and would only take like 1% of the military budget.”—Logan

“Expanding Public Service Loan Forgiveness to other industries makes zero sense and is insulting. People have worked toward PSLF for years based on exclusive eligibility, some specifically choosing their jobs if not whole careers based on this promise of forgiveness...though it does make sense to develop [other] new, equally exclusive industry-specific programs.”—Leslie

Your punch list for when you punch out.

Read: Check out this creeptastic viral stunt inspired by the new horror film Smile. When you’re done cowering in fear, read the New York Times explainer about what exactly makes the film’s signature grins feel soooo sinister.

Learn: Photographers, learn how to market your skills with two days of free Zoom courses hosted by The Everyday Projects. The classes take place October 15–16 and cover everything from photography ethics to promoting your work and lining up new gigs. Sign up here!

Follow: Nobody is born knowing how to interpret the assembly instructions for an Ikea couch. If you’re having trouble figuring out some of the smaller hurdles life throws your way, look to @briannajcoleman_ on TikTok. She has tips for resetting a circuit breaker, changing a doorknob, and unclogging a toilet.