Apps

There are millions of apps available for the billions of electronic devices in this world. The selection is mind-numbing. Everything from games to apps that help with homework are available, often for free. While many of these apps are helpful (even if they just give you something to do while standing in line at the store), they can also suck up all our time—and irritate friends. For example, how many times have you received a desperate invitation from a friend to play a game you had no intention of playing?

Apps can be helpful tools, even for studying and interacting with Scripture. However, they can lead to tremendous distraction (such as when driving) and damage our use of time. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to consider our mortality, so that we might live wisely” (NET). That’s an intense verse, but it reminds us that our time is limited. What we do with our time matters. Take a moment to look at the apps on your electronic device and reflect on how much time each one of them consumes, particularly social media apps.

On average, how much time do you spend using apps to connect, communicate, and work, versus just “killing time”? If you have gaming apps, how often are you on them, and when? It’s important to monitor how much we use our devices, in contrast to how much our devices are using us.

Ironically enough, if you want to calculate how much apps are using up your time, you can find several handy apps to measure it.