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this (probably pretty short) ramble is kinda inspired by watching old commercials and watching my friends deal with the intricacies and frustrations of modern day parking
i've been on a streak of watching old commercials from the late 2000s and early 2010s commercials, and seeing this commercial in particular among other experiences in the past few weeks really had me thinking on if we really need an app for every little thing in our lives.
this complaint shows itself in a lot of different ways that i always see my mind coming back to writing in this post more. although i've been procrastinating from it due to school, my apologies
i think about how when i sometimes go out with my friends and we park somewhere, they have to download an app just to ensure that they don't get towed. i think about how there's apps for your headphones and remotes and cameras. there's even apps for doctors appointments and even keeping track of your health insurance. (found out that one the hard way when having to help my parents set up stuff.)
and it all brings me back to that commercial, and how the whole there's an app for that schtick for the beginning iphones offered a sense of optimism and wonder. i feel like the early apps back then kind of reflected that. there were apps for beer, lighters, paper tossing, and even lighters for concerts!
back then, it was still possible to live pretty normally without feeling like everything in existence needed an app. it was 2008 after all. you could still live pretty independently from your smartphone. in fact, the friends and family i knew that were a bit older were still using flip phones and t-mobile sidekicks.
but now it feels like there's an app for everything, and not necessarily in a good way. why is there an app for the nintendo switch, apps for health insurance, coloring books, and apps for parking? i even have to keep an app on my phone for my headphones so i can properly connect them to the right devices since i have more than 2. why all the digital mess and clutter?
i've personally resorted to keeping many of my socials off my phone, and only have 1 game on my phone. everything's mainly on my pc. i often see how many apps my friends hoard and i really wonder if they interact with them all, or just let them take up space on there. i've seen people with 12-15 different app folders and am baffled at what they need every single one for at times.
passing the question onwards now. do you feel like apps have outgrown their use and have become an inflated-anyone's game sort of space? how many apps do you have on your phone that you actually use? looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and opinions.
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Wren~
I feel like the difference now is that a lot of apps don't make life easier. The parking apps fill me with rage bc it's so much easier to just put in some quarters & be done, but now you have to download their app, make an account with them, & then transfer money from your bank. But apps like the ones in the commercial you linked make life easier by being more convenient than their alternatives. The food tracking app actually reminded my of a friend I had growing up that had diabetes. She had to look up every item that she ate to see how many carbs were in there & then had to track it in a book. That app might have been useful for her bc she would have the carb info & her records all in one place, making it more convenient. It almost feels like these companies aren't considering the consumers' needs anymore, which is really weird bc that should be their main goal.
you've worded it perfectly! early iphone apps like maps helped people save off buying gpses and made it convenient to have your phone guide you. same with apps like notes and books. nowadays, apps are just being made to push bloated ad revenue and make things more inconvenient for the person using them. they no longer aim to serve the public.
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MyRawChickenSoup
my phone feels so cluttered bc of this TT so many apps i need 2 have but only use once in a blue moon...
it might help to offload/delete stuff!! i did a serious cleanout and it saved my phone space a ton...
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NeoCryptic
It feels like everything is adware now
!!!!! exactly that, just empty husks to farm ads on, especially when it comes to games
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ArmoredAlchemist
No yeah literally it fucking sucks. Especially when there's no alternative to an app. Parking apps in particular are the worst- I mean, everyone knows cell signal is next to nonexistent in parking garages, and what if you don't have unlimited data? I'm tired of everywhere I go having a new stupid app to pay for the parking, to look at the menu, to use my tickets, to register for the event, to this and that and blah blah yadda yadda christ man. I've tried my damndest to avoid apps as much as possible, but I really miss the days when my apps were just like, Tumblr and the weather and a calculator and a handful of games...
no exactly, it's a little sad how physical cash is phasing out! and speaking of tumblr, the app is so unusable nowadays. everywhere you click you get sent to the app store for a cash grab fake mobile game. it got so bad i had to delete the app and switch to being desktop only for tumblr. it's so frustrating how mobile apps are basically unsuable now!!
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.° 🎀 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝒶𝒸𝑒 🧸
apps for parking is so dystopian I WANNA USE MY DAMN DIMES AND NICKELS ESPECIALLY WHEN ITS ONLY GONNA BE 30 MINS-2 HRS FK U these guys wanna get rid of physical currency so they can charge more for using cards and apple pay and create monopolies and further screw over the poor/lower middle class HUH
i HATEEEE how money is getting phased out nowadays!! once i start my job i wanna try my best to get cash on me because i'm so tired of having to use my card for purchases that are less than $20!!!
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yea idi the same. i also feel bad to buy from small business on card unless its a big purchase bc i think they have transaction fees =_=
by .° 🎀 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝒶𝒸𝑒 🧸; ; Report
especially the card minimums where they make you spend more just so you reach the minimum they require for card....
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