Real Simple Gives Good Apps

To stay true to our new year’s resolution theme, and also to stick to Real Simple, we have a few of their good and not so good apps that are supposed to help you with your New Year’s resolutions. Again, I’m not so thrilled with their need to stick with this resolution theme — one because some of these apps won’t work for many personality types, but also because some of them are just useful apps that don’t really have anything to do with resolutions. Maybe it’s my personality type but all this talk about giving up gambling, television, smoking and alcohol has made me cranky. And what’s so wrong with T.V. again? Huh? Oh sorry, I wasn’t paying attention, Pawn Stars is on again.

First up is ZocDoc. It’s a rating site for doctors near you and makes it easy to find a doctor in your area who takes your insurance and whose reviews you find appealing. I actually used the site to find an eye doctor nearby who took my insurance and was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Don’t know how this would help me stop putting off doctor’s visits, but when motivated and needed, it’s a useful tool for any type!

Second is DriveSafe.ly. This is an app that stops you from texting while driving. Can anyone tell me how one texts and drives? I can barely figure out how to switch the radio station on the big touch screen console that used to be two simple knobs. And I feel like I’m jeopardizing safety when I do this! But for those of you who ARE texting and driving, or rather need to be connected at all times, this seems like a pretty cool app. It reads your emails or texts aloud to you and the upgraded version lets you compose and send emails and texts using voice commands.

Third is Quitter. Its supposed to help you quit smoking by keeping track of how long you’ve been free from smoking. Yeah, um. As a former smoker I can tell you that I didn’t need a device for that! But the app also has a financial incentive tracker that calculates how much money you’ve saved. This would definitely be an incentive for Classics (SJs), Funs (SPs) and Smarts (NTs), but I don’t think it would be that useful for Organics (NFs). As Kelly wrote during our resolution week, Organics need to have an incentive with more personal meaning. Which I suppose money can take on, but that wouldn’t be the first thing. Smarts also might need something more too.

Dr. K’s Breast Checker. I dunno about this one. First off, isn’t the newest research showing that self breast exams aren’t the best way to keep cancer at bay? But if you’re always feeling bad about not doing it, this app might be just the thing. It has reminders for Funs (SPs), Organic Freedoms (NFPs), and Smart Freedoms (NTPs), and lets you mark areas of concern for when you go to the doc.

BugMe! This one turns your phone into a post-it note. This isnt’ going to be helpful for Classics (SJs), who already have a list, or for Smart Structures (NTJs) and Organic Structures (NFJs). It would be best for forgetful and busy Funs (SPs), Smart Freedoms (NTPs) and Organic Freedoms (NFPs). But just as a bunch of post-it notes on your computer can quickly become background clutter, the same thing can be said of electronic post-its. But if you’ve got a big thing you just CANNOT forget like — I can’t forget to go to my daughter’s recital — the app won’t let you do anything else on your phone until you read the post-it. This of course won’t work if you don’t look at your phone. Thus the reason I tend to write on my hand for these kind of post-its!