When hearing about apps for being happy I wasn’t quite sure what to expect honestly. After browsing the websites, I thought they just might provide information on happiness and doing things to make you feel more content but I didn’t really know what else I’d find. They generally took survey’s and asked questions that had to do with your emotional state and what you were doing or where you were. Which I thought was kind of weird because I didn’t think it mattered what I was doing or where I was, I thought the questions would be more about emotional things or personal things. Come to find out that they tell you how you feel when participating in certain activities.

Not only do you check in with these apps but these apps also check up on you! Besides the fact you can update it when you want or add any current emotions or locations etc but they can also ask you throughout the day if you’re okay and to check in when you want to. Which is useful when you think about it. Also on one of the apps you can choose whether to keep your profile private or public and basically if it’s private it’s obviously for your eyes only BUT if it is public other users can comment on what you write and give you advise or feedback. I found this helpful for the simple fact that some people wan’t help and don’t know who to reach out to. Although it would be strangers it is still encouragement, support and helpful advise. When dealing with online places such as these, people feel more open to say what is bothering them and how they’re feeling because it’s not like they know who exactly it is or would have to see them everyday. It’s like a comfort zone I would say for those who would share their thoughts openly on the web. That is if someone was to choose to put it public. For those who would prefer to keep their business private can rightfully do so and reach their happiness goal on their own. Which is okay as well. Everyone is different and uses different strategies which this app is open to doing. On one of the other apps you can also choose facial expressions to show your current feeling. They let you choose the eyes and mouth which can give you different outcomes and you update it through out the day and it shows you on a graph how your moods have changed and whether it’s getting happier or sadder. Another app actually had a picture of Sonja Lyubirmsky which I found interesting since we read a article by her. After trying out these apps I actually found them useful for those who would want to see how their emotional state is and whether it changes because of their surroundings and what they are doing. After discovering what activities it is that actually brings their mood up they can do more of those things and do less of what doesn’t make them happy.

I’ve never tried to track my happiness until this assignment and its been rather strange. its way of actually training your mind to “happy”. They help you to realize your emotion in hopes to make a shift in things.. All of the technology can be helpful in noticing the emotion, but there isn’t any help in changing the situation. so that emotion would only be temporary. while being connected to the digital universe, we disconnect from the world around us. it is important how our emotion line up with our energy. I don’t think that these apps are for me at all. when I’m mad; I’m not going to go to the app and put in that I’m mad; I’ll be too mad to report it. In fact the apps might make me depressed, because it’ll actually be counting my happiness or reading me my reality.

All of this just shows the effect that technology has on us today. We go on social networks to track others activities. People we don’t even know. We find satisfaction in others depressing status on Facebook. and find envy in the person who just bought the new fab car or house or Instagram. These apps and social media networking just proves that others happiness have an effect on our own. and no, it cant be measured but it can be altered!

The happiness apps were quite interesting. I downloaded a few of them into my iPhone 4S. Some of the apps were hard to download but they all served the same purpose. They all tracked happiness and asked questions pertaining to well being. It also consisted of some personal questions about my life. The apps asked about anger, anxiety, depression, mood, sadness, happiness, irritation, confused, focused, dizzy, headaches, disorganized, impulsive and much much more.

The fact that they asked about all of those things means that those are key things important to happiness. The app T2 mood tracker in particular was very focused on the answers I gave them. It did not try to direct me to anything else besides myself. It was not like it had steps and procedures to follow to get to happiness. It was basically showing how self happiness is acquired through fulfilling ones needs.

Mappiness was an app I was very interested in, for a variety of reasons. It asked a lot of questions. It was a cool process because every question had a different direction to go into. For example, if yes or no was an answer, each answer would lead you to a different question. It is like choosing which path to take and the process it takes to get there.

However, I was unable to sign up for the app mappiness because when I got to the end it said there was an error with the system and I was unable to sign up for it at this time. I tried many times after to sign up and complete the process but it still hasn’t worked. I enjoyed the process but I believe the only part I am missing is my results.

The apps showed me of how much of a somewhat unhappy person I am. All of those apps just show how technology is getting advanced. Technology connects to everyday life and self happiness.

Social media and social networking has really increased drastically over the last few years. Happiness has been a main focus of the technological era. These apps that has been created shows great purpose and how important self happiness is to an individuals well being. Technological devices and tools have been used in various ways with different techniques.

The apps has shown me how to be happy for myself. It updates you every hour of every day. Literally. You can adjust these things in setting though. That is no problem but if you want it to work to its best, it is highly likely that you should leave all of the settings on because the more active you are with the app, the better the results.

In conclusion, all of the apps are beneficial to self happiness to each and every individual. To be happy, you must have a process and procedure to follow. Without those set of instructions, you will not be completely happy in life. All of the apps we learned about are key items in self happiness that can and will help if they are followed properly.