I don't know if you have ever thought about this, but sit a while and think of the number of middle men services that have been eliminated over the past few years. Some have even been created to be eliminated (I'll get to this one later)
And I don't mean lay offs or industry declines. I'm talking about your phone offering you all the services you never thought would reach the palm of your hands. Apps!
Today, you don't need to go to a shop to recharge your phone, you don't even need to go to an ATM to withdraw money from your card and then recharge your phone. Apps allow you to do this from the comfort of your home. These apps not only let you recharge your phone using a virtual wallet, but it also lets you shop and pay your utility bills.
Food ordering apps eliminated middle men who were yet to come into existence. Imagine having a service that took your home delivery order for a restaurant, accepted the payment on behalf of them and delivered their food to you. That is exactly the service that food ordering apps are doing currently.
No more do you have to call up the restaurant and read out your order, no longer do you need to keep ringing them up to know the status of the said order. The app lets you know how long your order will take to be delivered and also asks for feedback on food and service of the restaurant after delivery.
Payment options on the app are very convenient as you can choose to pay using any of your cards/ a virtual wallet or even through cash on delivery.
Travel Apps take traveling by public transport to another level. Now you can track where the cab that's supposed to pick you up is, leave alone assuring yourself a ride through these apps. This should teach all those taxi and rickshaw drivers who keep refusing fares a lesson.
These were just examples of apps that have entered the market today and are reaching the palms of our hands. They make life easier and quicker. At least that's what we think they do.
But lets give this whole scenario a look from another side.
What did these apps do by reaching the palm of your hands? They have further added to the de-socialization of society, if that's even a term I can use.
We gave up on calling friends up over the phone long ago, when apps like Whats app messenger, Facebook messenger, Hike etc came into the picture. We gave up on shopping trips with family and friends when Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon, Lime road, Snapdeal and Ebay came into the picture.
We gave up on our dreams of traveling to see new places and experience new cultures when Instagram and photo sharing apps of the like came into the picture. We even gave up on candid pictures the moment selfies became a trend and the front camera became a necessity.
Today, we are all in touch, yet so out of touch. We have reached a point, where we require an app to show us our potential dream house, where you require an app to order your food for you, where you require an app to talk to your friends and share great moments rather than share them in person.
Today, we even have apps to help us locate new places, discouraging us from verbally inquiring with anyone for the same.
We are in touch with the word through our fingertips but out of touch with the world around us. Today birthdays, anniversaries, mothers day, fathers day, friendship day and valentines day are grander on Facebook and online shopping sites than in our homes and friend circles.
While we once wished our mom's in person, today we wish her through Facebook, we send virtual cards and virtual kisses, but do not for once consider real time interaction, even when we're sitting right with her at home.
Kids these days are playing with their phones more than with each other. Carrom, marbles, card games, cricket, football, all the sports you can think of are no longer board/outdoor games. They are Mobile/PC/Play station/DTH games.
We have created apps to act as middle men where there were no middle men in the first place. These apps have eliminated middle men before they could discover the service as a job opportunity.
Today there is no human-human contact, rather, human-device-human contact. It's painful to hear of cases where there only Human-Siri contact.
Disclaimer:
I am guilty of having more than 3 games on my phone and number of online shopping apps too. I also use a virtual wallet and a food ordering app.
Trust me when I say, this is where one thinks they're more tech savvy, more happening, cooler, more social, but honestly, this is exactly where one begins to feel like a loner.
And I don't mean lay offs or industry declines. I'm talking about your phone offering you all the services you never thought would reach the palm of your hands. Apps!
Today, you don't need to go to a shop to recharge your phone, you don't even need to go to an ATM to withdraw money from your card and then recharge your phone. Apps allow you to do this from the comfort of your home. These apps not only let you recharge your phone using a virtual wallet, but it also lets you shop and pay your utility bills.
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No more do you have to call up the restaurant and read out your order, no longer do you need to keep ringing them up to know the status of the said order. The app lets you know how long your order will take to be delivered and also asks for feedback on food and service of the restaurant after delivery.
Payment options on the app are very convenient as you can choose to pay using any of your cards/ a virtual wallet or even through cash on delivery.
Travel Apps take traveling by public transport to another level. Now you can track where the cab that's supposed to pick you up is, leave alone assuring yourself a ride through these apps. This should teach all those taxi and rickshaw drivers who keep refusing fares a lesson.
These were just examples of apps that have entered the market today and are reaching the palms of our hands. They make life easier and quicker. At least that's what we think they do.
But lets give this whole scenario a look from another side.
What did these apps do by reaching the palm of your hands? They have further added to the de-socialization of society, if that's even a term I can use.
We gave up on calling friends up over the phone long ago, when apps like Whats app messenger, Facebook messenger, Hike etc came into the picture. We gave up on shopping trips with family and friends when Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon, Lime road, Snapdeal and Ebay came into the picture.
We gave up on our dreams of traveling to see new places and experience new cultures when Instagram and photo sharing apps of the like came into the picture. We even gave up on candid pictures the moment selfies became a trend and the front camera became a necessity.
Today, we are all in touch, yet so out of touch. We have reached a point, where we require an app to show us our potential dream house, where you require an app to order your food for you, where you require an app to talk to your friends and share great moments rather than share them in person.
 |
Today, we even have apps to help us locate new places, discouraging us from verbally inquiring with anyone for the same.
We are in touch with the word through our fingertips but out of touch with the world around us. Today birthdays, anniversaries, mothers day, fathers day, friendship day and valentines day are grander on Facebook and online shopping sites than in our homes and friend circles.
While we once wished our mom's in person, today we wish her through Facebook, we send virtual cards and virtual kisses, but do not for once consider real time interaction, even when we're sitting right with her at home.
Kids these days are playing with their phones more than with each other. Carrom, marbles, card games, cricket, football, all the sports you can think of are no longer board/outdoor games. They are Mobile/PC/Play station/DTH games.
 |
Today there is no human-human contact, rather, human-device-human contact. It's painful to hear of cases where there only Human-Siri contact.
Disclaimer:
I am guilty of having more than 3 games on my phone and number of online shopping apps too. I also use a virtual wallet and a food ordering app.
Trust me when I say, this is where one thinks they're more tech savvy, more happening, cooler, more social, but honestly, this is exactly where one begins to feel like a loner.
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