We now live in a world of apps. Almost everyone with a new phone has a smartphone. The app revolution started with the introduction of the IPhone, but apps and smartphone technology quickly spread to every major cell phone company thanks to Microsoft and Google. Within the next two years if your phone can’t run apps, it will be obsolete. Apps are taking over our lives and changing the way we interact and live. But is this for the better? After interviewing my classmates, I found that the No. 1 app they use on their phones is Gaming Apps, with games such as Temple Run, Angry Birds, Ski on Neon–and even classics such as Spider Solitaire. It may come as no surprise that students listed a vague “when I have free time” as when they most frequently use these apps. The other big contender in the app market is social networking. Almost every student listed Facebook as one of their most used app. Other social networking sites such as Twitter and Tumblr were also listed. The need to stay connected and interact is fed instantly with these apps. Many people with smartphones don’t even bother to use computers to check these social networking sites anymore. They can control everything from their phone. During March Madness the most used app was ESPN ScoreCenter. Students admitted to constantly checking sport scores—some claiming they did it during school. These apps make trying to use phones during class tempting. This is a certainly not a healthy use of apps and smartphones; however, we can use them in a healthy way. Healthy apps are out there, but they are struggling. They aren’t linked into instant gratification, and many people don’t even consider downloading them. Only one student I interviewed admitted to ever using a healthy app, saying, “Yeah actually, I’ve been using this app called Couch to 10k.” Couch to 10k, like many healthy apps, promotes fitness and tries to help a user achieve a certain fitness goal. Unfortunately, many people get unmotivated and bored with these apps and quit using them. A new app called Zombie, Run! came out recently and aims to fix the problem of unmotivated exercise. The whole premise is that it’s actually a mix between a game and a running app. As you run, you will collect achievements and complete tasks, all in order to survive the zombie apocalypse scenario that the game presents. Plug in your ear buds and turn it on before you run, and it will narrate your run, interspersed with your own music choice and timed intervals that force you to run faster to escape the hordes of chasing zombies. Only two students I spoke to said their smartphone wasn’t addictive. As someone who doesn’t have a smartphone and can’t use apps, I see many people with smartphones almost constantly checking them. Everyone I asked said they use their phones to escape awkward situations and kill free time. But sometimes it’s not clear which of the two people are using their phones for. A few times I’ve noticed a circle of friends staring down at their phones and playing games. Watching people not interacting at all, not paying any attention to each other, can be very frustrating. I don’t have a smartphone and would rather talk to friends, not sit in awkward silence. I’m not totally bashing apps, though. They can bring people together. It’s all in the way people choose to use them. Apps are no doubt changing our lives. You can’t go anywhere with our seeing someone using an app. Even kids are using them on their parents’ phones–reading story books, watching cartoons, and making imaginary cupcakes with an EasyBake App. Every child over 13 in five years will have a smartphone, and if my generation is known as the Internet Generation, they will also be known as the App Generation.