Relevant meme…
It’s a media art piece by Mark Vomit.
Thanks!
It how swift it has been. Friend and I went to a “mall” we hadn’t been to since we were kids. He pointed out "holy crap, this is where it used to be rows and rows of payphones. Even in 2010 I didn’t have a mobile, and only got one as all the payphones vanished.
Now so many things require an app or online sign-up.
One of my favorite sights when I visited Yosemite National Park was the payphone and huge, empty newspaper vending rack that were still present outside one of the lodges. Like walking back in time. People probably thought I was weird as I giggled to myself while taking photos. It’s ok, I am!
I get legitimately excited when I see payphones now… It’s like coming across a spectacular animal from a distance in the wild.
Now so many things require an app or online sign-up.
US? Not here. And online signups (if no online service) provide an alternative way.
Sadly here a huge amount of government is entirely online. Even 4 years ago when I wanted to do my passsport, because of my age bracket, I was not allowed to use a paper or internet method. I HAD to use a web app, and then with the app someone had to take a photo of me for the picture. No “send a photo in” no email the photo.
It couldn’t be your normal passport photo eaither, full waist up photo, with full white background and neutral lighting… It was completely impossible.
It couldn’t be your normal passport photo eaither, full waist up photo, with full white background and neutral lighting… It was completely impossible.
Workaround for their stone-age face recognition software.
I like them for being able to text and make calls. Otherwise I hate using them - a desktop computer is far easier for me.
I regularly live with a dumbphone. All it can really do is makes calls and text. Its only difficult if you give a shit about social media and chat apps. I don’t so its easy
I dont own a computer. My whole internet access is through my phone. It’s necessary for me
That definitely makes it harder. When I was first switching I still kept my smartphone, I just had it turned off in my bag. If I ran into something that needed it, I would use it and work out a long term solution later.
Now I split my time between a dumbphone and a de-google smartphone with very restricted apps. I take the smartphone out when I know its gonna be a busy day or I have errands, but for a basic day of going to work and back home, a dumbphone is fine
I can’t do online shopping without accepting a notification on my bank’s app. That’s not “social media and chat apps”.
Can’t you set it back to sending you a text with a code to input back? That’s what I’m doing with my bank, my dumbphone is on its way.
I have no actual idea, but I don’t think so as it’s an “online” bank where you set up the account on the mobile app. There’s no other way to set up an account with this bank.
Oh. Here in France, even online banks still have web apps.
Anyway the assumption that every user has a smartphone is now very prevalent and it’s going to get harder and harder to not have one, but I really want to go against the trend.
Yes, web apps, yes. But to confirm online payments you usually need the app. That’s true at least of N26.
If you use a a third party processor for payments like privacy.com or PayPal does it still need the app?
May be. I have no idea.
My phone borked on me recently but I got it up with a complete system upgrade and install from scratch. Meanwhile I realized how dependent I am on it for everything from communication to identification to transportation to deliveries to intercom and beyond. I don’t like it with this single point of failure.
True, but look at it the opposite way - modern life is just getting easier and easier because of mobile phones. Think of all the things that they make easier and replace. When we finally get digital licenses later this year I can officially leave my wallet behind. The only time I’ll need it is when I go to the gym as unfortunately they don’t have their NFC cards available via phone.
It’s a good thing and a bad thing imo.
People now can keep and relive moments easier and faster than ever before, but it does suck how big companies now just use it to do anything and how ads are just thrown everywhere to make every possible penny they can.
I need a smartphone app to:
Access mail from my government
Log into any website as ‘me’ (taxes, car related stuff, my net bank, etc)
Buy a damn bus ticket
In reality i dont need my phone to be smart. But society wants me to
But i do everything i can to avoid getting apps from various companies. Membership bonuses etc. I hate it so much.
I do enjoy my smartphone in the car though, for google maps, music and taking a call. But… i would much rather, if that was just built into the cars infotainmentsystem.
The membership apps are the worst. Every time i shop for clothes they ask me if i already have their app. I tell them no. they tell me if i want to get it. I tell them thanks but it’s OK i don’t want it. Then they tell me if i sign up i get 2% discount. I tell them thanks but it’s really OK. And then they look at me as if i’m the only person ever that didn’t want to install their spyware in exchange for a tiny discount. Do people really just get those apps?
People definitely get them for fast food. Not me. I sure as hell don’t want Burger King siphoning my data.
I’m a “If I don’t do it when I think about it, it’s not getting done” kind of person, so I like being able to do EVERYTHING on my phone, because it’s always in reach when I need to accomplish something.
That being said, I HATE downloading apps and creating accounts to do simple one-off tasks.
Last week we went out to dinner for our anniversary, and there was a QR code to pay the bill. I think, “Cool, I don’t have to wait for the server to take it.” So, I scam the code. It leads me to an app download. Ugh. Fine. I’ll wait for this to download. Once I open it, it prompts me to create an account.
I immediately uninstall, and wait for the server to take, run and return my credit card.
Just give me the bloody neurolink already, I’m ready to ascend into the hivemind
Buddy, i fell the same! I wanted to make my smartphone a weekend thing, but I just cannot function wihtout it. I literally can not log in my work pc wihtout it, it’s insane!
It’s really insane
Yep, the one time I decided to go out without my smartphone it got me stranded in the middle of nowhere without way to contacting anyone until 4 AM.
Are these shower thoughts or are they just thoughts?
Yes! So many things that where previously websites require apps nowadays. Makes it hard to function in society for me as I (with very few exeptions) refuse to install closed source software on my computer or phone.
My wifi router needs a app to change any settings on it, its so stupid too, if you try the normal method of changing settings via a web browser it just gives you a flat out “no download our app” and the app is functionally worse with less features than what the old wifi router settings page used to give, its so unnecessary and annoying how everything that used to work fine with a website is needlessly packaged into a (often inferior) app.
That’s hillariously bad… my condolences.
I would recommend getting a router that you can flash wrt or advanced tomato on. If you want to go hardcore, you can get a server with pfsense.
I have two personas. One with a google phone with FB (to talk to my mom to Greece), and a macbook. And another with a de-googled Murena eOS phone and Linux laptop. One of these two personas will die once I move to Greece next year. I don’t mind not being able to talk to friends on FB or IG. If they want to find me, there’s email, or they can join federated social media. I won’t miss them.
Thanks, I had never heard of Murena before. I’ve been worrying about what would happen when my Oneplus 7 Pro dies. I’ll get one of their eOS phones.
You could actually put Lineage OS with Micro G on your current phone and be living the dream, it is supported.
Yeah, I love my phone and the whole world it opens up, having access to so much information in my pocket. But I also hate how tied we are to them now. I bought tickets for a gig recently and the only way I can access them is by downloading an app (that I’m only going to use for this one gig). What if I didn’t have a smartphone? What if I didn’t want to take a smartphone to a gig? You aren’t allowed to go to this gig without one, and it’s a small thing, but I don’t like how the option is out of your hands.
Pretty much every supermarket in the UK now requires you to download an app so you can access their offers. I hate this so much.
It is pretty ridiculous. They started doing the same thing with app ticket at Red Rocks in Colorado. So I have an ancient android phone I use for that shit now, doesn’t even have a sim card in it. Has the ticket app and I may put a grocery store app on it at some point, but otherwise it’s factory fresh. They can keep their grubby apps off my real phone.
There’s always a way to get tickets without using an app.
It just takes LOTS OF MONEYYYYY
The most ridiculous part are services insisting you install an app when everything their app does could be in a progressive web app. PWAs are less work to develop as they can run on any device with a browser. For fast food and clothing brands especially, I think PWAs are a no brainer. (Unless you want to track your customers coughTimHortonscough)
It’s your last point there. They want you to install an app because said apps can collect a lot more data points on a
foolconsumer than a web app.Decathlon you need a smartphone for their loyalty card. Only upside is you don’t have to get receipts for their 1 year return policy.
In my country (Czech Republic) you can tell them your email address that is tied to your account
My family got a new KitchenAid stove and I wanted to set a stop time for the oven while we went for a walk. I am able to do this on my shitty oven at our apartment.
I had to connect the stove to wifi, download an app, make an account, and link the stove. All to set a timer. Even then of course there was an error linking them.
Usually I wouldn’t have done that but I was really looking forward to the walk. I was one of the first adopters of Hue lights and used to be excited for smart home stuff. But this is so stupid.
Wondering if it’s some sort of data collection thing and also there’s no way a kitchen appliance company focuses on security and making their wifi connected devices secure.
So dumb.
I never buy any appliances with WiFi or any IoT shit, I draw a hard line there. That shit is cancer.
It’s getting harder not to buy ones tbh
I’m willing to buy smart appliances, but only if they are LAN only and connect to HomeAssistant. No data collection, no privacy policy, no outside access
