I Know There is an App for That, But Who Needs It

            In our age of cell phones all but completely replacing home computers, developers have needed to adapt to the shift in technology in order to improve the experience of using their product or platform on a mobile device. Smaller screens are the obvious barrier, but, of course, there are software and user interface limitations as well. For instance, trying to run a game on a mobile device’s internet browser would be a nightmare. Thus came the widespread popularity of applications, or “apps,” if you will. These downloadables have greatly increased the capabilities of the mobile device. Now, it seems there is an app for just about everything. But like everything, it’s overdone and, often times, just makes things more complicated.

            Let’s talk about superfluous apps. You have your apps that do the exact same thing your phone can already do on its own. There are alarm apps, calculator apps, messaging apps, all functions every cellphone has had since the turn of the millennium. The only difference is they take up additional space and often come littered with advertisements.

Then you have apps that compensate for the limitations of mobile internet browsers. However, internet browsers still carry a lot of use. Many websites work just as smoothly if not even better on a phone’s internet browser than that of a home computer. Online shopping is very easily accomplished via a mobile friendly webpage. No app necessary. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from making an app anyway. Download our new app so that you can do exactly the same things you do on our website with absolutely no added features or functionality. Also, the download will take up memory space on your phone. No one asked for these apps, and no one needs them. Still they try their darndest to get you to download them with promotional offers.

            Still, these incessant promos at least don’t inconvenience you, should you decide to forgo their sacred app. For that, there is Facebook. Now, I could rant forever about my qualms with Facebook. How they won the social media war of the nineties, I haven’t a clue. Sure, Myspace was buggy, but it was a creative outlet at least. But I digress. Facebook has essentially three functions. You can post things for others to see, you can look at the things that other people posted for you to see, and you can chat. Back to my point about superfluous apps. All of those functions can very easily be accomplished on a mobile browser. Even if you are addicted to Facebook, and demand instant access at a moment’s notice, this too can be accomplished without their app. Simply bookmark the page, save the bookmark to your phone’s home screen, and save your log in information to keep you logged in.

But, in order to get people to download their app, Facebook purposely removed one of the only three functionalities from their mobile webpage. It is impossible to view or create messages on their mobile platform. Rather you must download their app. And not the regular app, mind you, no, they created an entirely separate app just for messaging, again, a capability that phones have had well before Facebook even existed.

I’ve been picking on Facebook specifically, because it is one of the most heinous examples, but these unnecessary apps are everywhere. Restaurants, drug stores, grocery stores, even tire stores have their own app. Seriously, how often do you eat at the Olive Garden that you need an app for it.

-AMS

Living Vicariously Through the Eyes of a Camera

            Having just returned from a picturesque trip, I would like to share some disturbing observations about pictures. With the advent of the camera came a change in society. No longer would tangible likenesses of our experiences be limited to those with the time and resources to commission, or skills to produce, a transduction of that which is reflected in our eyes onto a medium that can be shared with others. And as technology has progressed, so has the availability of these cameras, and I mean that in two senses. The total number of persons possessing a camera has increased. But also, the repurposing of cellular phones to portable computers has resulted in nearly constant access to a camera. At any given time, you are likely capable of taking a picture, and this has led to certain consequences.

We take pictures of everything… and I mean EVERYTHING.

You go on vacation and visit a historical landmark. Naturally you would want to take a picture of something so impressive as this. But after you take your picture look around. Look at the other people visiting this landmark. Watch them take pictures of the landmark, yes, but also the sign denoting the landmark, the staircase leading up to the landmark, the cloud formation that has congregated in the horizon beyond the landmark, and the pigeon sitting upon the handrail lining the staircase leading up to the landmark. What is to become of these pictures? Do you really intend to return home and gather your closest friends to share with them your picture of a pigeon? A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. However, even the greatest picture is worthless amid a thousand others, as no one will take the time to find it.

Your incessant picture taking is infuriating to everyone else.

            In polite society, when someone is taking a photo, the courtesy is to walk around or wait until they finish so as not to disrupt their photo. This does not often come up in day to day life, though, and is therefore rarely an inconvenience. But when dozens of people are constantly stopping to take photos of themselves with everything they see, it creates real disruptions. When people are unable to even proceed due to your need to take photos no one will ever look at anyway, perhaps you should be the courteous one and move on.

You are living vicariously through the eyes of your camera.

            What do I mean by this? When your friend comes home from their trip and describes the wonderful sights they beheld in vivid detail you can almost imagine being their yourself. Vicariously you experience the wonder that they experienced firsthand. But in reality, they only experienced it secondhand. Again, watch people at these picturesque sights. They approach them, cameras at the ready. The mindset of our society has become so enveloped in taking pictures, that it proceeds even actually looking at the thing you are photographing.

No one takes in the actual experience of these wonderous sights, cultures, foods, exchanges, etc… They just take pictures. And when they return home to share their experiences with friends, they don’t tell them how overwhelmingly massive the cathedral was. how breathtaking it was to stand before beautiful mountain landscapes conceived purely by chance through the natural course of time, how simply enchanting it was to learn how to navigate a grocery store in a foreign country, how delicious a new combination of familiar foods could be, how enjoyable it was to empathize with a busy waiter… They just show you pictures.

            -AMS

Happy Birthday America

            That’s what this holiday is about right? Or was it the winning of the revolutionary war? Who really cares anyway? What this holiday is really about, is lighting of pyrotechnics. Just like how Christmas is about pine trees and presents and Easter is about eggs and chocolate. Yes, holidays are mostly founded on important events such as the declaration of a nation’s independence or birth of one’s messiah. But let’s be honest, most of these things are just tradition at this point. Some people do celebrate Christmas as a day of honoring Jesus. But for most people it’s a day off of work and an excuse to give gifts. And personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that at all.

            There will always be those people that get all uppity about the true meaning of Christmas, but the true meaning of Christmas was warped long before Hallmark got its hands on it. It’s based in Pagan traditions. Some would say that family and togetherness and all of that jazz is what it is really all about. And I would argue that giving people time off of work, incentivizing them to think of gifts for their friends and family, or get together and partake in some redox chemistry reactions, as is the case for the fourth, are all good ways to encourage family and togetherness. As for all that jazz, I would suggest Satchmo.

            People love to get upset about things that really don’t matter. Remember the Starbuck’s Christmas cup fiasco. No, I don’t mean people getting upset about their cups, I don’t know that I knew a single person who did that. I mean the people that got upset because they thought other people got upset about cups. Of course, I kind of just defeated my entire message here, but I think it still shines through. Regardless of what anyone thinks, even yourself in a blog post, celebrate whichever holidays you want, however you want, as long as your happy and harmless.

            -AMS