A walk down memory lane to a time three years ago ( how fast was that huh ). Boom! It’s been that long you guys… can you believe it? Wow, we’ve come a long way haven’t we. From major environmental mayhem to a quiet year long almost doomsday like episode of being held against our will in the name of safety and being responsible- to slowly getting back our extrovertness and now..walking into a semi after pandemic reality.
That’s a lot to absorb and take in. But guess what, we made it y’all. So let’s send prayers to those who aren’t here with us today. The World is different now and it should be because we should’ve learned a lot during this time of mankind’s survival of the fittest. Like literally.
So looking back, we know how deep we went into the rabbit hole of almost going insane being stuck in our homes with our children, spouses, family and roommates. We start to see the truest true colors of some of the closest people around us. Their will and strength and the grand gestures they do for us to make sure we’re okay. We see how people survive with kindness and even get to see the most ugliest and selfish sides of humanity ( the whole toilet paper wars and more ).
So today, we want to thank those behind the scene unsung heroes who made our lives a little better and more convenient by providing us with one of the best ideas that designers, engineers, Creatives, IT intellects and specialists could provide. Plus, those who are at the forefront of providing these consumer services too, the frontliners. For without any of these people above, our quarantine lives would’ve been a living hell.
UberEats Doordash Grabfood + more
If this was hunting or foraging season and we were looking for food, they would be our convoy of hunters and gatherers that we would appoint to help us obtain the food through their expertise and services. And we respect that so much, for without them, our hungry hangry bellies would be empty for most of us none hunter gatherers out there.
I can not imagine a life now without UberEats or Grabfood/ Food Panda here in Singapore. It’s like a must have app to survive for us who have little to no time to prepare food after work. And also for those non frying pan users as well. Cos not everyone of us know how to cook or were taught how to cook ( it is a survival skill to have if you didn’t already know that ).
Houseparty
This social app has come a long way from it’s Meerkat roots. Its CEO Ben Rubin and his team of developers created an app to help people facilitate social networking through playing games online together in a virtual living room on face-to-face video chat rooms.
I’ve personally played this during the pandemic with my family and friends.
We played pictionary, trivia and other games too. What it does is, every time any one of your family or friends enter the app, you’ll get a ping that they’re online ( you could also mute this if you want to enter incognito).
This is where you’ll meet and chat and just have fun and laughs together.
Houseparty was crazy fun when it first came out cos everybody was just enjoying being silly during the games. We had an absolute ball. I think I’m going to ask my family to get on that again one of these days. Just like a Thursday night chat meet.
Zoom
A tool that every life-long learner should have, Zoom. Its creator and founder Chinese American Billionaire Eric Yuan, got his inspiration from his long 10hr train rides to visit his girlfriend. In January 2013, Zoom 1.0 launched and was made available to the public.
Now here we are 10 years later, still collaborating and communicating through Zoom. It has become such a household name that lots of communities, companies and people in general, rely on it. What would we do without you ( well, we still have Googlemeet hehe ).
Teams
Company confidential meetings and gatherings can be done here. And you know how this app came about ? It was through an intense Hackathon event that Microsoft had amongst its engineers. Isn’t it amazing what things can manifest under great pressure.
We all must’ve had at least one Teams meeting in our company. I remember the ones that I attended, once upon a time. And I don’t miss it one bit haha! (nostalgia side track there).
Well, we also depended on Webex by Cisco for certain more highly sensitive content for training and interviews. I’m sure you’ve been in at least one of those if you were ever in a large organization.
Clubhouse
Drop-in audio. I’ve only heard of that in 2021 seriously, and that was through a friend. An innovative way of doing live podcasts in actual “live” audio chat rooms that could fill thousands who would love to listen or join in the conversation.
Clubhouse was the hippest place to be to drop-into LIVE Podcasts with the coolest cats in town. It became so popular, it went viral. During those times, the hottest topics to discuss about were at that time, vaccines and it’s harmful effects. You’d hear from doctors in the field of that expertise and lots of pharma whistleblowers too. A few other hot topics were the paranormal phenomenon, meditation gurus conducting hypnotherapy, creating NFTs with artists and the future money makers, renewable energy and what will happen in 30 years through innovation and science.
It’s always some interesting topic that’s being discussed or updates shared and some topics debated about. You could quietly leave the audio chat room too if you feel it’s getting boring, repetitive or not really for you. So many rooms to choose from and it’s so great to be heard because they’ll go round robin as the host allows those who were chosen to be “onstage” the opportunity to be heard.
Amazon Prime / Fresh
Madness madness on same-day delivery services. Are you a Prime member yet? Especially if you’re in Manhattan or some busy CBD area in Singapore, getting things last minute on an errand~ Amazon Prime is going to be that life-saver for you.
I remember a colleague who desperately needed an adapter for a meeting and some other stuff on top of that. I never heard of same day delivery until that day. I was so impressed when he said he ordered it in the morning and got it that same afternoon. Things at our fingertips aye. Scary easy but so convenient.
And who better to introduce me to Amazonfresh than my own brother. A foodie himself who is so up to date on most apps and tech out there. Though I’ve not tried getting my groceries through Amazon cos I ain’t a Prime member, I feel that I might some day just to see how far off would the timing, cost and quality be compared to our local food/grocery delivery services.
These apps have really been game changers in our pandemic-affected lives since late 2019. It has been such a blessing that we may already taken these conveniences for granted, today. So look back to see and appreciate where we came from and how we got here. Especially the people behind the scenes and the very forefront of providing you these conveniences. We can always innovate to improve lives of people everywhere.
What apps have helped you during the pandemic?
Toodles
XOXO
Simplelifedaily 