Humans have a nasty habit of taking something that was created for fun and overusing it to the point of irritation. We all loved Gangnam Style, until we couldn’t get the neighbour to stop playing it. We all loved Miley Cyrus, until she started riding wrecking balls. And so it goes with apps. Apps were created to make our lives easier and fill them with fun. However, you can always trust consistent human use to ruin it in some small way. Here are MediaVision’s 7 most annoying apps of 2013.
7. INSTAGRAM
Instagram is one of our most loved apps due to its easy to use, easy to share, virtually free from advertising, turn-yourself- into- a -professional -photographer app magic. However, attempting to be a keen photographer and attempting to be professional subject matter is not the same thing.
Love: sunsets and mountain brooks colour hyped to illustrate their beauty. Hate: Lip pouting, tongue pulling, hair thrashing, dreamy eyed, “this is me pretending to have just woken up in bed although I’ve curated this pic for the last 20 minutes” montage of #Selfies in one image. By the time you meet the person in real life you can barely recognise them! The phrase, “Wow, your profile picture looks really different!” has become way too popular. The fact that #SelfieSunday exists isn’t a good reflection on the human ego.
6. NIKE RUNNING APP
There’s nothing more important than having a goal, formulating the steps to achieve that goal and conquering it, especially when it comes to health. Enter the Nike Running App. Being healthy is fantastic. If you set health goals your family will support you, your friends will cheer you on but those who love you a little less (read Facebook acquaintances) may hate you. Why? Because your entire friend list isn’t interested in the length, frequency or distance of your morning runs. 5, 10, 20 miles? Awesome! Do we care? Not really. Unless you have a story as good as Forest Gump’s, not even your closest Facebook friends are interested. Save those who are online with you the agonising mile by mile updates.
5. FLIPAGRAM
Flipagram has created a whole new level of cheesy social media sharing and not in the way where you want to buy the DVD and re-watch it a hundred times. More like, “Wow. I’ll never get those 30 seconds of my life back.” This app is still brand new but it managed to get most social media fanatics across the globe reviewing their year in pictures set to emotive music. So what’s so bad about Flipagram? Actually, the picture concept isn’t bad but once again, when you add the human element, the whole concept just nose dives.
[ shoe shot ] from Amanda Rose Zampelli on Vimeo.
Users create a picture montage and set it to music. The worst music. Terrible Euro dance, B-grade American country, cheesy ballads and songs where they wish the lyrics were true. A collection filled with young men, bicycles and $10 bills to Drake’s Started from the Bottom Now We’re Here – newsflash, you’re still there. And the family Flipagrams! Yuk! How can we be mean about every cute child’s face (and head) melted into an online collage to the best 2013 ballad, you ask? Well – we can. Although your children, bull dogs, cats, meals and selfies are “adorable”, the rest of the world just doesn’t feel the same.
4. CANDY CRUSH
Candy Crush was released on mobile at the end of November 2012 and took over the world in 2013. Beating Farmville 2 as the most popular game on Facebook with an estimated 46 million monthly users. It might be the number one game in the world but it’s also driven non-players on social media absolutely mental. 46 million monthly users at 2 requests a day? Not to mention the “I just beat you on Level _” to other player’s walls – that’s over 138 000 000 app notifications a day. Just think of all the real friends you could be hanging out with if you’d converted those into whatsapp messages. #JustSaying
3. PREGNANCY APPS
Yes! We’re thrilled that you’re pregnant, of course! But nine months of constant belly shots can really dampen the world’s enthusiasm of your child’s arrival. Let us continue to be supportive, intrigued and happy for you by ensuring you don’t over spam your whole friends list with belly pics and various other measurements linked from your iPhone app to Facebook.
2. FACEBOOK COUNTDOWN APP
We’re all known to go to bed at night and do the odd finger count towards a day that we’re happily anticipating, whether it be a wedding day, birthday, or other special occasion. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Until you put it on Facebook and create an OFFICIAL countdown. You’re literally counting down and with every second that ticks by you’re putting more and more people off. Although friends can be supportive, often having something constantly in our faces can turn love into hate. Let’s countdown every now and again, not every now and every second.
2013’S MAIN OFFENDER
1. BIT STRIPS
Bitstrips aims to animate your life by allowing users to create their own personalised cartoons. They pride themselves on offering the opportunity to “put friends in hilarious comic situations”. Ever heard the phrase, “Aw, I guess you had to be there.”? That should be Bitstrips’ slogan. You’re not the writer, nor animator of SouthPark – please don’t try to be.
Let’s make a resolution for 2014: when the creative world gives us an app, put the app on the other screen and consider whether anyone cares about the information you want to share. We’ve all been urged to only share things that are entertaining, helpful or educational. Let’s honour those values in 2014. See you online.
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