The App Map

I was twenty when I got my first mobile phone.  (Whispers) eighteen years ago now.  I remember that it was a Nokia 3210 and I thought that it was the best thing since sliced bread.  Back then, you had calls, texts and the now famous Snake game.

Over the years phones got smaller and smaller, then larger and larger.  The technology improved until we have reached the point now that there is more technology on our phones than what was used to send us to the moon. 

These days, our phones are our worlds, holding everything in them that we hold dear.

We have reached the point where you can do anything on your phone. You can run your business from it, you can blog from it, you use it to capture all the moments of your life and share your thoughts with the world.

When it comes to the apps that we use, there are some that are staple needs like your email and a good camera app whilst others are tailored specifically to your needs.  Here are my go tos, with my beautiful Simba as a backdrop.  

I have my social apps like Twitter and Facebook, my email apps and my banking apps in top place.  Pixabay for my blogging is an essential as well as my music and the clock which wakes me in the morning with Pretty Vacant by the Sex Pistols.

Carphone Warehouse recently did a study of what apps people used on their phones across Britain, looking at ages, genders, incomes and where you live in the country.  

It is quite interesting to note as the statistics for the tops five apps for women do not include anything that I have on my phone.  For men, the top apps include Wifi Analyzer and Steam which is a gaming app.

Breaking the stats down into my age range of 35-44, the most popular apps are Kodi and CBeebies, whilst looking at my income bracket, that changes again to Facebook and a mobile banking app which looks more like me.

What does this study tell us?  That we are a diverse nation that uses mobile phones to tailor our lives to the way that we want them.  Surprisingly, for the people earning over 100k, one of the most popular apps is Farmville which is something that they share with the lowest earners in the East of England.

Check out the study on the link above, it is really interesting to note.

*Collaborative piece

We have a Soul Too

This is a blog coming from the person on the other side of the phone.

In my line of work I deal with the general public on a daily basis, both on the phone and face to face.  I deal with people from all walks of life, from the rich to the poor, from the criminal to your average law abiding citizen.

What all of these people have in common is the inability to be polite on the phone.  Anyone who deals with the general public know the type.  The person who thinks that shouting, nastiness and general rudeness will magically make things happen faster, rectify problems and generally will get them what they want.  Let me give you a very large tip here, it doesn't.

Over the years I have been shouted at, verbally abused, sworn at, threatened and reduced to tears.  None of these things make me do my job better and they will not make me want to help you.

I know it is tempting when you have a problem and have to ring a company to chase a response or complain to shout at the person on the other end to get a more immediate response.  You may be angry about an issue, but believe me, shouting at the person answering your call is helping no one, except perhaps making you feel better.

When a person calls or comes into my office if they don't shout and say please and thank you like an ordinary human being then I will always go that extra mile to help them.  Obviously the nasty people are helped too, but I'm not going to bend over backwards to help someone who is shouting/verbally abusing me.

It is more often the case that the main result of an abusive call is that the caller themselves gets more angry, gets confused in what they are saying, goes round in circles and nothing is resolved anything.  Everyone loses.

What also irritates me is the amount of times that I will be shouted and/or sworn at by a client, and then once they are transferred to the person dealing with their matter, they suddenly turn into polite, well mannered people.  The monkeys deserve respect too, not just the organ grinders.

So next time you make a call to a company, customer services or whatever, please remember that it is actually a person on the other end of the line.  Because we have a soul too.  Take a breath before you call, don't swear, and we will get along fine.