There's an app for that
I’ve been on a very particular kind of kick lately, trying to use as little technology as possible. The question I keep asking myself: do I need an app for this? A subscription service? A computer?
So I’ve been offloading tasks that used to be handled with apps to see how it feels. So far, the experiment has been profoundly successful:
Grocery lists are now jotted down on a tear-away notepad and stuck in my wallet.
Reminders have turned into sticky notes on my desk, or, simple timers on my phone. I realise the last bit might be cheating, but setting a timer is infinitely simpler and faster than using a dedicated app.1
Intermittent fasting is tracked via a 16-hour timer on my watch.2
Other habits (plant care, shaving, exercise, meditation, etc.) are tracked in an extremely barebones bullet journal. It also serves as a running task list for personal projects, chores and events.
The result: my phone now mostly sits in its phone-home. I go to it when I need it, rather than it finding its way to my hands almost by magic.3
Likewise, when coming across a new app, I try to look at it more critically. Do I need this thing to do [insert task here]? More than a few times now, the answer has been "no".
The appeal of apps is strong and understandable: we're walking around with tiny, insanely powerful computers with the sharpest displays ever made. These things can render beautiful interfaces, are easy to interact with, always online. Its apps are sometimes made my intelligent, compassionate human beings who genuinely want to solve some problem, maybe even their problem.
There's nothing inherently evil about apps. I would say, though, that they are part of a system that is dedicated to siphoning as much of your attention as possible. Engagement isn't some dark conspiracy: it's a metric by which companies operate and real money is made.
This isn't meant to come across as an indictment of all apps. But I do believe we should approach them, and technology in general, with a different mindset. More measured. Slower than the speed at which it works.
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I make an exception for my daily medication (anti-anxiety and anti-depressants) reminders, but that's more deeply ingrained habit than anything else. I probably don't need the reminders, but I also don't want to find out that I need them, if that makes sense?↩ Stopped tracking it altogether lately. I stop eating after dinner, I start eating at lunch. My schedule is consistent enough that it doesn't need to be tracked. It simply is the way I do things now. The power of habit!↩ There should be a name to this phenomenon. Smartphone finger is a thing, as is cell phone elbow. There's also nomophobia, the fear of not having a working mobile or smartphone.↩