The lure of the Apps

Apps, wonderful things invented to help, delight, and entertain us. There are soo many apps that we say, "there's an app for that". Apps come in all shapes and sizes and on differing platforms. The lure of that apps comes from one word ....free. Ah free, what a glorious word, but is any app really "free". Free of what?, cost, pain, privacy, security. Do we really look at the "cost" of the word free? I've noticed that so many apps invade our privacy's, control our phones, take our information. Do we care? no. We don't mind, most of the time we don't even notice.

Perhaps the biggest lure from Apps comes from the use of them. Here is what I mean. I've been using android based phones since the arrival of the smart phone. I've loved the apps that came to me from Google Play, and the Amazon App Store. So many free amazing apps that improved my first world life and let me enjoy the amazing thing that was my phone, but that came at a cost that I only now realize. These apps have been slowly limiting my view of what smart device I can get. When people ask, why don't you get an different phone like an iphone or a windows phone, I say well because I've been using android for so long, they have all my apps. These apps have determined what I like and chained me to a platform that maybe I didn't really want to be chained too. So how do I break free, can it be done. Do I just alienate my treasured apps for others that might be inferior in some way, was my choice of phone really that important when I joined the smart phone world? I think yes.

It's time for me to upgrade my phone and I've been looking at all the models available and many of them have appeal, but because of my history of android apps I find myself disregarding phones like the windows phone and the iphone because really, they won't have the apps I want. But then I ask myself, do I really want those apps. I find the answer is....I don't know, what would I do without them? Would my life be empty without the apps I've grown to love?

The answer is no, my life wouldn't be empty and I shouldn't make the apps the most important thing. So why do I make them important. Well because I've had a personal experience with them and I've learned things about them or they've helped me learn things about the world. So I appreciate them, but I shouldn't invest so much in them that I find myself tied down to apple or android or windows. I will Free myself from the apps and the next time I buy a smart phone I will think of other things that I might benefit from and what other possibilities are there for those phones.

I declare freedom from the lure of the apps and take back control of my own buying power!