Have you noticed that downloading an app is necessary for just about everything in our lives? At the risk of sounding like an old lady, I don’t want to download your stupid app. And while I’m on the subject, I don’t want to provide my email or phone number when I buy an outfit at the mall. You are lucky you get my zip code because I’m paying by credit card!
But, I digress. The whole app culture makes me feel like I’ve entered another dimension. How did we ever survive before apps existed? Remember the days when you could earn points by presenting an exclusive membership card, and valuable coupons magically appeared in your mailbox?
Don’t get me wrong. There are some apps I find incredibly useful. Waze is truly a godsend. I just started using Venmo because everyone I know under 35 uses it to pay people, and I got tired of saying I don’t have it. And I admit, I open the Find Your Friends app regularly – although, for my purposes, the name should be changed to the “Find My Kids” app.
However, some apps leave me scratching my head. For instance, SpeedQueen is a popular app that college students use to do their laundry on campus. If you haven’t heard about this yet, this will seriously blow your mind.
Gone are the days of digging for quarters out of the sofa cushions. And the chances of finding your wet clothes on the top of the washing machine because you forgot all about them are significantly reduced.
In order to do her laundry at school, Jenna takes out her phone and selects a washer from the list of machines currently available in her dorm’s laundry room. Once selected, the app automatically deducts $1.25 from her pre-loaded account. Jenna can also set a notification via text or email to let her know when it’s done. She repeats this process for the dryers.
Crazy, right?
Are apps robbing our children of the real-life experiences and struggles we learned from in our youth? This is the type of philosophical question that keeps me up at night. This… and why aren’t they teaching handwriting in schools anymore? I’ll bet there is an app for that too — what a shame.
And this brings me to my question for you — what apps are you grateful for and which ones could you live without?
Robert Krantweiss
January 20, 2020 at 9:20 am (4 years ago)I could use waze. How do I get it? How much does it cost, Interesting points brought up.
Maureen Durney
January 18, 2020 at 7:23 am (4 years ago)Why didn’t I have that app for the laundry when I lived in an apartment on the 4th floor and the laundry was on a much higher floor? Back then I used to set a timer to make sure I rescued the clothes before they ended up dumped on top of the machine. But finding quarters to feed the machine? That was painful! I was always paying for things with dollar bills – hoping I would get quarters in the change just so I could stack them up for the laundry. That app certainly would have made washday a lot easier.
My favourite app now is WhatsApp. Now that I’m back in Australia I can talk to friends overseas for hours, without needing quarters or an App to pay for the call.