Argus is powerful and extremely popular. As mentioned in a section of the Communities in Nonsocial Mobile Apps blog post, Argus is a dashboard on your life. Since I look at many things in life through an Octalysis lens, I will be referring to the Octalysis Core Drives here.
Argus is tied into a social network and has a news feed. An example will serve best here. When I get done meditating, I can share how long I meditated and associate an image with it. A six sided “meditation” indicator shows on the dashboard and into a news feed similar to Twitter. The kinds of things I can share are food, cups of coffee or tea, sleep patterns, almost any activity you can think of, and it even syncs with my Fitbit to get the steps.
Since we can see each other’s posts in the feed, there’s a strong people aspect to it. We can share messages, images, and give each others’ posts “likes.” We personally can hold each other accountable, learn from each other, or even just ask how it’s going.
Sometimes when a person has not had much sleep and if they share their sleep data, we can say that we hope everything is going ok. There are some wonderful and supportive people in Argus. There’s clearly a strong Octalysis Core Drive 5: Social Influence and Relatedness in there.
We personally can hold each other accountable, learn from each other, or even just ask how it’s going.
On a creative note, one person has even held weekly philosophical discussions in a challenge using the Challenges feature. Another person used Argus to get over apathy in life. That’s huge! Here’s a word of caution though. Please, see a Mental Health professional when needed.
Sharing Personal Data
As long as you choose your online friends carefully, there is a continuous sense of support from the group. Yes, I saw at least one scary person in there and that person was reported. Like any online social app, my advice is to control what Argus data you share. For myself, I am just careful to not share exactly where I live.
Through the app’s search feature, I’ve met others and through them learned more about different customs around the world. For example, I learned about an Asian holiday known as Tomb Sweeping. That’s fascinating! I’ve also learned about other customs and people from Spain, other parts of the USA, Canada, and many others.
Accomplishment and Curiosity
Since the app also measures things like the number of steps you’ve taken and tracks goals, you get a strong sense of Octalysis Core Drive 2: Development and Accomplishment. As you know, you never know what you’re going to see in a Twitter-like feed. So, there’s Octalysis Core Drive 7: Unpredictability and Curiosity at work as well.
Speaking of curiosity, there’s a new Meals section of the app that I have not fully explored yet. Trying that part out is something for me to consider aka chew on. ?
How To Optimally Enjoy Argus
As in any social app situation, the key is to carefully pick those online friends whose relationships you will nurture on an ongoing basis. Since you only have so much time in life, you have to pick and choose. Originally, I did this by limiting my friendship list to a top ten. Since I have been sharing my meditation expertise and guidance with more people on the app and in life again, I am thinking of accepting more friendship requests to allow more communication opportunities for others. Helping others achieve their optimal potential is a calling in my life and this would support it.
Whatever your calling in life is, I hope you find all the tools and resources you need to make it happen. Have fun!