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New apps will be a win-win

This summer saw the public unveiling of UnLondon — a local collective of self-proclaimed hackers who build apps to make our lives easier.

Here’s the thing about emerging technology like phone apps: they save us lots of time, but the time put into them is immense.

That will likely be the case if the apps proposed by UnLondon actually come to be. The group has some interesting ideas for handy gadgets for your phone – like an app for garbage pick-up days.

It’ll be a lot of work to put these apps together. And they’re being done for free by local hackers. It seems like a lot of effort for little personal payoff.

It makes you wonder how long different groups will be willing to create apps like this for free, while the companies themselves reap the benefits of extra promotion at no cost. By some perspectives, UnLondon is little more than free labour.

These apps also beg the question – why did no one think of this before? The London Transit Commission and the City of London could have created apps for the same things the UnLondon folks are working on, but neither has.

But it’s likely better they didn’t bother since this way they aren’t shelling out the cash – and their customers are still benefitting from a free service. Of course, the major con might be what some argue is a growing reliance on this technology.

Nowadays, everything is at our fingertips. Wikipedia made general research a cinch and Google Maps made getting from point A to point B easier than ever. The internet in general has simplified our lives – and apps like the ones UnLondon proposed have the same potential.

But it raises some interesting questions about where we’re headed as a society. Are we getting lazier and letting technology do all the work?

Gone are the days when we had to hunt and gather, or even to talk to friends to figure out where to go for dinner – there’s apps outlining the best restaurants to visit. We can’t remember a time when writing an essay literally meant taking out a pen and paper – now we’ve got word-processing.

There’s no doubt all these technologies, including the apps UnLondon has proposed, serve to simplify our lives. For many people, that can be reduced to laziness. But using an app to check the bus schedule rather than looking it up on a piece of paper doesn’t necessarily work out to being lazy. It’s what you do with the time you save that really counts.

Overall these apps are win-win all around. They help us out and they’re free promotion for the businesses they’re used for. And if folks are ready and willing to put the effort into making them, then they must get some personal satisfaction too.

— The Gazette Editorial Board

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