Apps: Organizing Tools or Overwhelming Distractions?

The digital world we live in can come with many options. You can find an app for what seems like anything these days. Games, budgeting, recording & editing, timers...whatever you are looking for there is probably an app for that. But when do apps become overwhelming & distracting instead of helpful & fun?

I love a good game to unwind at night but I'm also a gamer so the line between can be very blurry. I've gotten a few app games before and learned that if I don't have limited lives/rounds, distraction mode sets in quickly. Then poof, two hours later I look up and have so frustrated that I was sucked in again. Maybe its social media scrolling instead of a game. Or 'researching' something you saw in a news article that was recommended in a web-browser app. Have you ever gotten lost in an app tunnel of distraction? 

Now, at the same time, I can also find such help with apps. Especially if there is a web and app version of something so I can literally use it anywhere/anytime. I always feels like my productivity and accomplishments can increase if I can carry around my phone with saving apps. Saving time, saving money, saving my stress from trying to write something down while I'm out of the house and hoping to remember it later...savings galore. Those saving moments can shift to overwhelm without us even noticing it though. I used to use (ages ago) a money saving tool where I would enter in a few purchase details, snap a picture of the receipt and send it in through the app. Then magically I would get a few bucks back. At first, I thought this was going to be great and maximize an opportunity I'm already doing. I'm already buying groceries, why not just do this on top of that as a money-making bonus. The overwhelm settled in after a few months’ time though and that helpful tool turned into something I forgot to do in the busy times of life and then the time would be past for submitting the purchases. When I really took a look at the situation, it was becoming one-more-thing I had to do and wasn't worth the frustration of losing 10 minutes for a few dollars every couple of months. I understand that three dollars is three dollars I didn't have before but for me personally earning three dollars in three months’ time after losing 30 minutes in total and gaining frustrations wasn't worth it. 

How do you feel about apps? Are you like me and thinking 'they can be overwhelming and helpful', it just depends on the app.

Is there an organizing topic you'd like more input on? Send me a message here and I'll get it added to the list for conversation.