Jodi Dean's article Apps and Drive examines how applications on smartphones increase communicative capitalism, individualist and individualizing fantasies. Dean focuses on how apps cause us to feel a need to own a smartphone, provides the consumer with a way to stay connected and a way for one to interact. She also says that the fascination with apps derives from "the affective attachment point tethering complex chains of production in which the app is less a product than itself another means of production". Essentially she is saying how the app is not really a product but another way of production fulfilling capitalistic goals.
The focus of the article can be broken down into four components of individualization that fulfil individualist desires as Dean says, the four are: isolation, personalization, responsibilization and identification. I think the most intriguing aspect is identification due to how prominent this concept has been throughout fourth year communications seminars. Specifically the focus on what can be seen as one's personal data such as, location and browsing history I find to be important. This is because this is what allows companies to target consumers based on their preferences, it allows for a greater chance of purchases if you're targeting the consumers preferred tastes.
Do you think that you are more inclined to purchase within app to further yourself along in the app? or do you think you are more likely to purchase items seen on the side bar? For instance some online shopping you have inquired about that is now subject to your screen due to identification.
I think it totally depends on the app, more specifically how it would advance you further. Although all advancements can be personal, I find that it also has to be benifitical as well. For instance, if someone is playing the smartphone application pokemon, some of the features will require you to make purchases in order to fully experience the app. What is nice about pokemon go in particularly is that it allows enough time for you to enjoy it before it becomes tedious and requires in game purchases. In terms of Sidebar apps, I would not buy any just because there is only so much one can donate in a day to an app. However, if one checks out the reviews on the app that was being shown on the sidebar, then I would perhaps consider giving it a try because in my opinion, reviews usually help determine the general overall view of the app. I like you`re point about the information because tracking history and location based services, I find for third companies, love to have access to as it allows companies to analyze the behaviors and repetitive of how we live.
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