Daniel Colon's review of DoorDash

Date last edited: 11-22-2024 at 04:02PM

   
Rating: Teen

Review:
DoorDash - Food Delivery
DoorDash, Inc. 
Food & Drink
4 Stars
Age 12+ years old
6.44.1
iOS, Android
Free, includes in app subscription
https://youtu.be/Uo6JMeTHF58?si=gEI0oaYxNIPrq-xhLinks to an external site.

As society advanced over many years, several services saw renewal in the modern age. One of the biggest advancements is that of the delivery service. Food delivery is not something new, for we've seen this through the milkman in the 1800s and pizza delivery being prominent from the 1950s onward. However, in the modern era, we've seen food delivery on a level it has never been in before. You can now get food from any restaurant at almost any time, and one of the most prominent services that has been leading the way in food delivery is DoorDash. DoorDash is an app that offers food delivery from any restaurant within your vicinity. The app allows you to order from a restaurant's menu, and within 45 minutes you'll have the food delivered right to your door. Though there have been several food delivery apps that came after, none have reached the level of quality of DoorDash.

First Media Key: Balance

When regarding applications, the definition of balance that matters the most is the definition of balanced use. Balanced use of media allows us to understand how much of the media we should consume. "As Christians, we have to order our lives so that we're investing the most time and the most energy in the people and activities that will help us faithfully live out our vocation and grow in holiness" (Gan, pg. 29). Prioritizing the media over our vocation can be dangerous as it can lead to a misunderstanding of our vocation, but proper abstinence from media allows us to focus on our vocation and lets us thrive as Christians.

DoorDash allows people to order food from any restaurant via the app and have it delivered to them in good time. After you order your food, you can review the delivery and state of your food, and then you can go back to your day. However, from time to time, the DoorDash app can send you notifications about deals on food orders and even ask you if you'd like to reorder your last delivery. Though a very convenient feature, the app does this in order for you to keep using the app and order more food. Though it is ultimately up to the user, this tactic can lead the consumers of the app to keep ordering food even when they don't really need it. If the consumer is aware of the persistence of the app, there is a setting to turn off those notifications.

Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness

As Catholics, it is our job to live out our faith the best we can. No matter what we do, there will always be those things that seem appealing but are meant to make us stray from the path of righteousness. This is evident in the media we consume. Not all media is meant to make us better people, and we need to be aware of that. "That's what makes the second media key, attitude awareness, so important. It keeps us on our guard, helping us to maintain a critical perspective about the messages coming at us through the media" (Gan, pg. 37). When we take the time to evaluate the messages being presented at us, we can more effectively realize how we can follow our vocations as Christians.

DoorDash as an app doesn't have an explicit attitude that is being expressed. It is an app designed to deliver food. One can argue that it has an attitude of promoting outside food as the only source of consumption, but that argument can be easily put down seeing as how the app was designed for outside food delivery. A stronger argument could be made that its attitude is to promote spending extra money for food delivery, but this is highly unlikely as it is not an app that someone is forced to use. 

Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person

As people, we all need to be treated with a certain level of respect. We have a dignity that demands the best for uplifting it. Because of this special dignity, humans must be treated with higher respect than that of other beings. To not give people that respect is to lower the value of man to that of any other lower being. And the same is true for the media. "It should take into consideration all that we are - body and soul, heart and mind - and both reflect and defend that" (Gan, pg. 53-54). If the media we consume were to attack the dignity of the human person, then it is not a media we should be consuming and taking part in the first place.

When it comes to humans, we have to eat in order to stay alive. It's no secret that food is the reason for our survival. DoorDash as an application demonstrates this perfectly, and it allows us to buy food anytime we need it, whenever we're hungry. However, the important thing about consumption for survival is that healthy foods are what nourish the human body. All food is the fuel for humanity, but healthy foods are the high quality fuels that keep us nourished longer. DoorDash, while showing plenty of variety in what kind of food it has, does not prioritize healthy foods in the apps. The healthy food option is the third option to pick from, and none of the rows of different categories have a healthy option. DoorDash could prioritize healthier foods for its consumers, but its failure results in an app that focuses on people's wants rather than their needs.

Fourth Media Key: Truth Filled

The media is at its best when it tells the truth. Not all media is meant to display an objective truth, but it can still find a way to tell a true thing through its subject matter. One thing media should strive to do if not tell the truth is to not deceive its audience. "In dozens of ways, the media might not be strictly accurate, but it can still convey truth" (Gan, pg. 70). If a media is not conveying truth in its content, then that can affect our perspective of reality. Lies may be pleasing, but they do not help us fulfill our vocations. We need the truth, no matter how hard it is, in order to pave the path to fulfilling our vocation. 

DoorDash is a very truthful application. When you order something, it will tell you the exact moments the food is being prepared, when it was picked up, when it's heading your way, and the approximate time it will arrive at your location. It is also very accurate in terms of how much money food costs. It lets you know straight up how much the food is and how much the cost changes depending on the tip. It also shows you the options of food to order per restaurant. Even if a new menu item is available, DoorDash stays on top of things by adding it to the restaurant's menu promptly.

Fifth Media Key: Inspiring

As people of God, we constantly look for areas of inspiration in order to better fulfill our vocations. We can find our inspiration in just about anything, but especially in the modern day we can find inspiration in the media we consume. Inspiration comes from God and makes us desire better things in order to become better people. "It also tells us that God helped man to develop media so that we could use it to inspire people to pursue virtue and a relationship with Him" (Gan, pg. 85). Media that doesn't inspire the betterment of people isn't media we should be partaking in. Most media is like this nowadays, so we should be aware of the media that actually inspires the good so that we can learn from it and pursue higher virtues.

DoorDash isn't an inspiring application, nor is it an app that does not inspire at the same time. The app does suggest foods to order that you haven't had before, but that doesn't count as inspiration, that's enticement. When a delivery has been completed, DoorDash asks you to rate your order in its completion, from the delivery service to the food itself. This is something that is required, but it is helpful for both the app and the restaurant you ordered from. The app as a whole, once again, doesn't exactly inspire people to do anything, it just allows you to order food and enjoy your meal as you desire. 

Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed

When you consume a piece of media, you want it to be made as high of quality as it can be. The same can go for many things, but this reigns true the most for the media. Often times we can overlook good messages and important truths because of the lack of quality of the media conveying such things. That's why one of the media keys is to be skillfully developed. "Ultimately, no matter how deadly or false the underlying message of a particular piece of media might be, if it comes in the right package - if it's been skillfully developed according to cultural expectations and industry standards - it will strike many people as good and true" (Gan, pg. 109). In order to defeat the evil that appears good, we must also make the good appear good, and that is the kind of media we should be pursuing at the end of the day.

DoorDash is a very skillfully developed app. It uses your location to find restaurants near you that allow delivery. Along with that, it shows you the menus of the restaurants and allows you to customize your order in case you don't want something like ketchup on your burger. The app also shows you the location of your order and the precise location of your delivery driver. If you ever need to reorder a large order, the app remembers and allows you to reorder with no hassle. Features like these pioneered the food delivery app market.

Seventh Media Key: Motivated by and Relevant to Experience

Some of the best media should reflect humanity. We choose to engage in media because we can relate to it. When we engage in media that reflects humanity, we can learn things about humanity. "The very stuff of human life - that's what makes for good media" (Gan, pg. 119). If media does not engage in human experience, it does not mean it's not worth engaging in, but it falters behind media that does engage in human experience.

DoorDash's entire reason for existence is to give people food. Food is something all people have in common because we all need food to survive.  Its creation is also motivated by the delivery systems of older times. Because of the older systems of food delivery, we wouldn't have the intricate and highly developed system of food delivery we have today through DoorDash.

DoorDash is the number one food delivery app on the Apple app store and the number two app in the food and drink category. It's a great application for getting food quick and easy and relatively cheap, but besides that, it doesn't offer much in terms of value and virtue. It does its job and it does it well, but there's not much to it. DoorDash is a good app to have, it's very convenient, but I wouldn't say it's a must-have app unless you really need to eat food at very specific times. 

Seven Keys:
Balanced:
Attitude:
Personal:
Truth-filled:
Inspired:
Skillfully Made:
Experienced:

Overall Rating: 26/35

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