"There is an app for it." This phrase has been used at some point in reference to just about anything, hilariously sometimes. Over the last few decades, app development has skyrocketed to unprecedented heights, and there is no slowing it down.
Android Market (now Google Play) launched in 2008, the number of apps available has grown to about 3.48 million apps. Apple's app store is not too far behind, with about 2.22 million apps. These apps range from games to all sorts of business and self-help apps that cover almost every area of human endeavor. Some time found myself struggling with a severe case of app dependence. I didn't have it worse than any other person in my generation, except that I became perturbed about the long-term effects of depending on an app for everything, from buying food to building relationships.
As an app enthusiast, I started a web app as my first startup, and I know first-hand the value that apps bring to their users. As a writer, I also know the value that apps like Grammarly have brought to me. However, this coin has two sides to it.
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Some time ago, I became apprehensive about my dependence on the AI-editing tool, Grammarly, when I noticed that the more I wrote, the more the suggested edits increased. I stopped myself one day when I saw a baffling 200 edit suggestions on a 5000-word project. It was even worse when I saw the suggested corrections; basic errors! I was infuriated.
It became clear to me at that time that I was becoming lazy and paying less attention to my writing because of the presence of an app… An app I had to pay to renew, no less. Experience is not typical to every writer, but it certainly is common.
To counteract this effect, I started being very intentional and diligent with my writing. I recently finished a 6000-word project for a client that had 0 errors, and I celebrated like it was my birthday.
This experience led me to X-ray my habits, revealing a worrying trend of app-dependence. Would I rather download a new app than engage my creativity or analytical skills? Unfortunately, I answered this question in the affirmative, and this only made me more worried about the long-term effects of this app-dependence on an entire generation.
App-induced lethargy and addiction in school, I lost the incentive to solve a math problem without it, probably because I never really liked mathematics. To date, I still find myself depending on a calculator far too much. This mental lethargy worries me most about our current app-dependence culture.
Palihapitiya, the former VP of user growth at Facebook, admitted that the short-term dopamine-driven feedback loops that Facebook created are destroying how society works. The addictive effect of social apps and how they leverage the same neural circuitry used by slot machines and cocaine to drive user engagement is well documented, but the scope can be broadened to include non-social apps.
App developers subscribe to the founding principle of entrepreneurship; find a problem and solve it. Solving a problem will almost certainly create a profitable business, but the question we must ask is, "Does every problem need an app-driven solution?" More importantly, is every problem bad?
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