Since Apple launched the app store in 2008, not only have apps become part of our daily lives, but some have become essential to communicate and get work related tasks done. In fact, smartphone owners today use approximately 30 different applications per month and nine different applications per day.
In his report published by the American magazine "Fast Company", the author Michael Grothus said that the applications will become a very important part of our life as we enter the third decade of the 21st century. However, there are some applications that you should probably give up to keep your money, mental health and privacy And your time.
Applications that frustrate you
The author refers to social media applications. Where through these applications people try to communicate a "perfect" image of their lives to their followers by choosing the best images for themselves, bragging about their talents or good fortune, bragging about their ideal trips, and romanticizing their relationships.
The author explained that the problem arising from these actions is that we begin to believe that the lives of others are much better than ours, even though everyone we follow on social media has the same problems that we all face, whether at the level of personal relationships, health concerns, or dissatisfaction with Their jobs and worry about their future.
| Applications such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat may cause frustration and depression to its users (Anatolia) |
Research has shown that this can make us feel depressed and alone, by falling into the trap of thinking that our lives are worse than the ones we pursue.
So, if you want to end depression in general, staying away from Facebook, giving away Instagram and Snapchat, and deleting the Tik Tok app may be the only solution to feeling happy in 2020.
Applications that do not protect your privacy
Privacy became the most important topic in technology in 2019, however, there are a few major apps that billions of people use every day but it does not protect user privacy to an acceptable degree.
| According to the author, The Washington Post has classified Google Chrome as a "spyware" (Anatolia). |
The author revealed that Facebook Messenger is one of these dangerous applications because it does not provide encryption between the two parties to the conversation. In addition, Google Chrome gets a lot of data about your activity on the Internet, which prompted the Washington Post to classify this browser as a "spyware".
Applications that are "free" but not really
The author indicated that there is no really free application, we pay for it in some way. If we don't pay money for the app, we pay for it using our data, which is of great value to some application makers. This value is derived from their ability to liquefy our data, whether that means using it to target us directly through ads or sell them to companies that exploit our personal information.
| Face transformation apps like "Face Up" may use our data to train their artificial intelligence systems (networking sites) |
Other valuable applications are derived from our data by using them to train their AI systems. Therefore, you should stay away from apps like "free" VPN, flashlight apps, or face conversion apps like "Facebook" and "AVR".
Applications that make you spend money
If you want to be more financially responsible in 2020, it's time to drop apps that make you spend money like Wal-Mart, Amazon and eBay. But there are many more dangerous apps, which are usually in the form of "free-to-play" games but are loaded with expensive in-app purchases.
| Candy Crush is free to play but includes in-app purchases |
The gameplay in these apps is designed to motivate you to make multiple in-app purchases to make rapid progress in the game you are addicted to. These include Fort Knight, Candy Crush Jelly Saga and Pokemon Go.
Applications that make you work 24/7
The author mentioned that applications such as "Slack", "Microsoft Office", "Google Docs" and "Skype" are powerful tools that can help us be more productive. However, it can also cause a delay in staying in the office. But deleting these applications from phones may be an impractical step for some people because of their dependence on them to make a living.
| If you cannot get rid of Microsoft Office and Google Docs, you should program its notifications and have them close after six in the evening (Communication sites) |
So, if you can't get rid of these apps, you should at least program their notifications and have them close after 6 pm. Or better yet, you can download these applications on a separate mobile device designated for work, such as another smartphone or other tablet, so that it is not next to you throughout the evening and on weekends.