Apps invade my space like digital lint. Apps for music, tie ins to my favourite websites, for news – honestly, the only ones that I really manage to absorb into my work, or my life, are the ones with real world counterparts. I recognize what a level is. I understand in what situations I may find a calculator useful. I might even integrate your twitter app, but don’t expect me to make a habit of it. Many more, though, I purchase and download, open once to set it up, then immediately close it and forget about it, just cluttering up my pockets and shelves and desktop.
Why am I finding this so difficult?
The fact that I’m willing to download without testing, without even thinking about it, may be a clue. It is such an easy sell that no one is going to be compelled to make a great interface, or a really fantastic user guide. Obviously some will, and I salute you for it, but thousands will follow the edicts of normative pressures and, for God’s sake, get their app out there into the world, lest they are seen as less current. Ironically, this is a convention widely expected to have made life more convenient, more enjoyable, more portable. How do I combat the guilt of an unproductive consumer?
Many a program I’ve investigated has to do with exactly my solution, in the first place. Streamlining my work day, developing new, effective habits, and keeping everything neat and tidy. The point simply being that the impressive level of distraction emanating from devices I conduct my entire work day on, and devices I have on my person at all times, requires I flex new muscles, or leave work unfulfilled. To take a little time every day to stretch out my self-discipline, do a couple of concentration crunches, and prepare to elbow through all the people trying to help. It doesn’t matter how much my computer allows me to delegate to it, after all.
I can’t escape bad habits, if I’m not prepared for them.
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