I am amazed at the apps available today. Not just for work – but for our time outside work. For those who are practically minded there are apps that help you maintain your car, track your bills and ones that even act as personal assistance. There are sport apps that help improve your golf swing or track the results of baseball and football games. For travel bugs, there are language translators and assistance with the conversion of money. Concerned about keeping your mind active after massive amounts of time watching Barney with your kids? You can use your mobile phone do Sudoku and brain teasers to keep your mind active. Even the White House launched an app that can be used to access streaming video of President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address.
My husband writes computer software — for fun. Go figure… The last time I wrote a computer program it was in graduate school and it was in Assembly Language. This was just shortly after the Jurassic period. I remember clearly when I erased my back up file, around 3 AM, for a key project. That was when I determined that I, indeed, had a more colorful vocabulary than I realized — even if I did not actually say the words out loud. More importantly, I found I did not have the passion I needed to be a really good programmer. Without passion, your job is just work. I am glad that there are opportunities for programmers with a passion, like my husband, who can use their creativity to create applications and share them with others. Sometimes they are silly, but sometimes they are very useful.
There are apps on cell phones today that help people with Autism communicate and ones under development that may help older people anticipate when a fall is likely so they can prevent injuries. This means that older people may be able to stay in their own homes longer rather than go to a assistive care or a nursing facility. There are applications like Dragon that enable you to dictate your emails – useful to people with conditions such as arthritis and those over forty who do not have their reading glasses! The work being developed today that is often offered at no cost by online good citizens who just want to help their virtual neighbors, is truly inspiring. Many applications are accessible for people who have vision loss like me and there are groups that talk just about those applications.
For those trying to juggle home and work, you can find healthy recipes and menu planners for shopping. And on the lighter side, or hopefully lighter side, you can find several programs that count or track calories or carbs. There are applications related to wellness as a whole and, I am told, ones that will help track your workouts as well. I should probably check into those…
Of course, there are games for kids of all ages. The handset vendors I’ve met say these help people to use a keypad more quickly and efficiently. I am skeptical. I think they are really just for fun. And, if my observations are correct, they are there to help people waiting in airports pass the time without becoming belligerent. For kids, there are educational applications that teach things like phonics and counting. There are even apps that provide a virtual experience of things we ACTUALLY did like skee ball, board games and spin art. The only application that I have not been able to find is one that will soothe the overtired toddler. But then, there is a nap for that…
About the author: Susan Mazrui, who just celebrated her 15th anniversary with AT&T, has two daughters, Sarah (23 years old) and Nicole (3 years old). Sarah works full-time and goes to Law School part-time. Nicole is a part-time preschooler whose current career aspirations include medicine and firefighting. Married to Jamal, a brilliant software developer and civil servant, Susan enjoys listening to books, described videos and international travel. Susan and Jamal also have a Cavapoo named Ginger (1 year old). Ginger initially aspired to become a guide dog for Susan but later decided to become a watch dog as she thoroughly enjoys people watching and really did not want to work that hard.
