Don’t F**k With Apps
Title inspired by Netflix miniseries Don’t F**k With Cats
THEY are watching you and they will find you whether you like it or not… You can’t hide, you can’t escape and you can never disappear! YOU ARE EXPECTED TO BE AVAILABLE 24/7.
I bet you know what I’m talking about. Better yet, you know that feeling when you get a notification and then feel obliged to open it, read it and reply INSTANTLY no matter what time it is or what you are doing.
I tried everything to make things easier! Can’t call it a thing anymore, it has become more like a lifestyle…and adapting to it is the challenge. I’ve tried muting my phone, switching off notifications, getting two separate phones one for work and one for my personal life! but I failed big time.
I failed because the feeling I’m referring to is internal, its not just about seeing the notifications pop out on your screen. Rather it’s internal, it’s the constant feeling that you are receiving or about to receive a notification and that you have to check it out because it might be important.
So in an attempt to regain control (some control) over my “me” time, at exactly 12:00AM on the 1st of January, I logged out of all my social media accounts and was living a Nokia 3300 lifestyle while enjoying the touch screen of my iPhone X.
For 10 days, four of my friends and I decided to take some time off. And Damn it felt great! During that detox, I sat with each one of them and discussed the reason behind their decision. What they liked and what they disliked about a certain app.
Below are synopsis from each discussion related to a different app!
“Makes it easy to reach anyone, anywhere”
Like: “The best word to describe the App is convenience. Im so happy I don’t get to waste time on useless Ads when I’m using Whatsapp”
Dislike: “In Saudi Arabia, I still need to activate my VPN to make a voice or video call. Its kind of annoying and makes me use a different app to make international calls like Facebook messenger. What annoys me the most is how companies are relying on it as a medium for communication. For example, I tend to receive orders from my clients even when its a weekend or late at night!”
“I have been using Facebook since forever! I got hacked once but it didn’t stop me from creating a new account and using it again”
Like: “I like how I can see what my family in Syria is doing”
Dislike: “Sometimes I wish I can filter out the comments. It feels like some people are always ready to make a useless comment. I feel like I need to be on Facebook to know whats going on with my family back home which makes the App a little bit overwhelming.”
“Fake lives, fake smiles that look good on photos”
Like: “There’s some kind of thrill that I get when I get more than 600 likes on a post, I don’t feel the same when I use Facebook and I don’t know why”
Dislike: “I get a follow request and wonder whether that person is real or a phony! Its really hard to tell because some people are really good at faking it. I mean I have nothing to hide but I would like to maintain some privacy in my private life.”
“If you live in Saudi, you have to have Snapchat”
Like: “love them filters…love to send random filtered selfies to people I haven’t seen in ages”
Dislike: “I don’t use it these days, especially not to post a picture. I use it to keep up with celebrities and some other news. I just feel some people abuse the App by broadcasting content that doesn’t really interest certain people.”
Its funny to hear how each one gets a kick out of a certain App but collectively everyone is doing somehow the same thing across all platforms. The one thing we all seemed to agree on is the fact that we felt overwhelmed with all the apps defining our existence. It felt like we ceased to exist as soon as we logged out! But we needed that and it was healthy.
CEASE TO EXIST if it will make you feel better. Knowing that you have the choice to take a break and knowing that you still have control and are not so dependent on your phone will make you focus on other things, things that probably matter more than a photo or a useless comment.
To sum up in a very cliche way, “disconnect to reconnect” its just a click away.
Logging out
Click
About this article
This article has been written by a student on the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Business Strategy. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminate the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DBS.
