I’m beginning to think WordPress has two people writing the Daily Prompts.
One of them sits quietly in a room somewhere, staring thoughtfully out a window and coming up with questions about regret, purpose, relationships, memory and the meaning of life.
Then the other one walks in, looks over that person’s shoulder and says, “Yeah, yeah, that’s nice. But what’s the dumbest video you’ve ever recorded of yourself?”
Today’s question asks for my five favorite apps on my phone.
I suspect this tells us something about the target audience for these prompts, although perhaps not the actual audience. Somewhere, someone apparently believes we are all deeply emotionally attached to our apps, carefully ranking them the way previous generations might have ranked favorite books, movies or vacation destinations.
I’m not sure I have five favorite apps.
I have apps I use constantly. That’s different.
For example, I use Outlook every day. I need Outlook. Outlook helps keep my life functioning. But calling Outlook one of my “favorite” apps would be like calling my refrigerator one of my favorite possessions because I open it twelve times a day.
Same thing with the Weather app. I check it constantly, especially during football season. That doesn’t mean I love it. Half the time it’s simply telling me that Jacksonville will be approximately the temperature of the surface of Mercury with a 70 percent chance of thunderstorms.
Messages and the actual Phone app are obviously essential because, despite what younger generations may believe, phones can still occasionally be used to communicate with other human beings.
Amazon is useful, although perhaps a little too useful. There are very few good things that happen when a middle-aged man with an Amazon Prime account suddenly remembers at 11:30 at night that he might need something.
YouTube is probably closer to something I actually enjoy. Spotify certainly qualifies. Music has always been a big part of my life, and having almost any song I can think of instantly available still feels a little miraculous when I stop to think about it.
I also play several games every day, including three of the New York Times games. Those may actually come closest to being “favorite” apps because I use them voluntarily rather than because modern civilization has required me to.
And maybe that’s the distinction.
My phone isn’t really entertainment headquarters. It’s more like a Swiss Army knife with a screen. It’s my telephone, mailbox, camera, newspaper, weather station, map, music player, shopping center and occasional source of pointless distraction.
I stay away from most social media. I check in occasionally, see what everybody is angry about today and generally decide I was happier five minutes earlier.
So if somebody forced me to choose five, I suppose I could come up with a list. Spotify. YouTube. The New York Times Games app. Amazon. Maybe Weather.
But I’m not prepared to defend those rankings.
They’re apps.
They don’t define me. They don’t complete me. I am not emotionally devastated when one moves from Page 1 to Page 2 of my phone.
And somewhere on my phone right now are probably six apps I downloaded in 2019 for reasons no living person could possibly explain.
Maybe tomorrow WordPress will ask something deeper.
Something meaningful.
Something that makes us examine who we really are.
Or maybe it’ll ask what our favorite meme is.
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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
