According to a new Google study, Canadians are very addicted to their smartphones and I am one of those people.  We take our phones with us everywhere we go – heck, I even sleep with mine under my pillow (well, I used to, but now I put it at least 2 feet away from my head to help shelter myself from airwaves all night – if this is even a thing.)

What interested me about the study were the tidbits of information about apps.  I find most apps to be overrated, until someone tries to take away my HuffPost widget then I’d freak.  The study says that most people have, on average, about 30 apps on their phone.

I have 49 apps.

People use about 12 on average over the course of a year.

Let’s see… the ones I look at every day are easily: Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Text Messaging, TheStar, HuffingtonPost, Email, Camera, Instagram, MapMyRun, CBCRadio, LinkedIn, and the Weather App.  The others are on an as-needed basis.  Does this mean my other 36 apps were there for just a one time use?  Isn’t that what the internet is for?

On average, smartphone users have paid for about 8 of their apps.

For me, I have paid for exactly zero, and am not sure if any of the paid apps out there that I would buy are ones I’d use daily.  

Rearranging the apps on my phone is something that happens rarely and, when it does, I get completely thrown off.  I thought that this might be a good idea for someone to do to ward off Alzheimer’s – like doing a crossword or trying to remember a phrase they read that morning.  Like rearranging clothes in your closets so the hangers point outwards for clothes you rarely wear, I should do this with my apps.

Why does it matter?  I don’t like clutter.  Digital clutter is just as bad as physical.  In fact, it’s worse because it’s not immediately evident that a build up is happening.  The last thing I need, though, is an app that will declutter my other apps.  I can do that myself, with my own app – called my brain.