There is so much noise in the digital realm. It’s important to get what you need. Now for this post, I would like to differentiate between the terms “want” and “need.” If you want something, then your existence will not be significantly affected if you don’t get it. If you need anything, then your life will be changed considerably if you don’t. The only reason I mention this is because my young kids talk to me about how they desperately need things (like in-game currency for their video games), which seems more like a want than a need. In either case, when you find that there is a time when you need a new app, having a few different criteria for what and how to look for one is something that I do.
1) Don’t listen to the hype – What I usually get a bit of a chuckle about regularly is when I see apps that come off as “the next greatest app for (subject matter)!” Whether or not it’s a game or a todo list or a calendar, unless you are a specialist in a particular subject that the app is for, what you the end user are looking for is an app that does something that you want it to do. It’s important to remember that if you have an e-mail app, and a new one comes out that promises “new and cool” features, that it’s essential to make sure that a) the app you’re currently using doesn’t have those features and b) decide whether or not you really…REALLY, need what they are offering.
2) Try things and only keep what you need – Assuming that there is something that you need an app for, say you need a todo list or something to record verbal memos or say you want a new game, then it’s important to try things out. Whenever I need a new app, I try out as many as I can. Let’s use the todo list app as an example. When I was looking for a todo list app, I went to the App Store and looked at what I could find. There were tons of options. I tried two or three for a time and eventually, I was able to find the one that I wanted (Hyperlink). The point for you is that if you feel you need a new app for something, there’s nothing wrong with that, make sure that you get the one that has the features that you want.
3) There are so many (so be picky) – The App Store (and I’m talking about Apple Google and Microsoft stores here) is flooded with apps for anything you could want. This. Is excellent for the end-user because it means that there are lots of options for you to pick from. The number of options can also be frustrating because, well, there are A LOT of options for you to choose from. With so many apps, it can be challenging to find the one you need (or want for that matter). As a quick experiment, I went to the Apple App Store and typed in “Calendar” in the search bar. There were 213 results (yes I counted). The process of picking an app with so many options, while it may seem daunting to the average user, is actually to the average user’s advantage. If you dig deep, and I mean, read the descriptions of the apps, read reviews, read features of what the apps do, it’s more likely that you will find an app that you are willing to keep for a more extended period.
Over the next few week’s I’m going to be going through some of the basic apps that I think everyone should have. I’m not going to talk about games in this context, partially because we’re talking about apps that help you get organized, but also because there are so many different aspects to the gaming world it would take me a month to go through it all. The apps that we use in our lives are an essential decision because of how heavily we use them, so it’s important to make the right decision on what it is that we use daily.
What Apps do you need in your life?
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