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Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

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Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#231

Post by remus »

basq wrote: post #216
gorgoiler wrote: post #167

Journey time calculations in Google maps, Uber etc. mean no one I know is ever on time. If you need to be somewhere at 8:30 and the journey “takes 17 minutes”, one psychologically sets 8:13 as the deadline for leaving the house. You pick up your keys at 8:13, actually leave a few minutes later, hit traffic or take a wrong turn or two, and end up crossing the threshold at your destination fifteen minutes late. It’s no…

Additionally those time estimates aren't always accurate. I used to do deliveries all over my county using gmaps, and it was usually 5 minutes off, even as much as 10 minutes off for some of the further destinations.

That's interesting, as for me it's eerily accurate and consistently gets it right within a minute or two for short journeys and within 5 to 10 mins for longer journeys (3± hrs). I guess it could be pretty location specific?

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#232

Post by marchenko »

anorakoverflow wrote: post #226
fouc wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw an interesting argument that we've always had the so called filter bubbles before the internet, it's only more noticeable NOW, because of public spaces like twitter.

There’s a classic theory in communication science by the German researcher Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann called the “spiral of silence”[1]. It basically says that people have an idea of the general public opinion on a topic, and in case their own opinion differs too much, they will stay silent in order not to be excluded from the group. This was classically seen with the negative result that the publicly acceptable opinio…

The other side of this coin is the Preference Cascade, a concept from economics [0] wherein people formerly in a Spiral of Silence discover that their supposedly unpopular opinions actually have a reservoir of public support. After publicly remaining silent or falsifying their preferences, they suddenly switch to expressing their true preferences. This can make public opinion seem quite volatile.

[0]Tmur Kuran https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674707580

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#233

Post by slx26 »

platz wrote: post #163
HankB99 wrote: post #87

I have a small device in my pocket that provides access to nearly the sum total of human knowledge. I use it to get into pointless arguments with people I don't know and look at pictures of cats. (I wish I could claim that as original but it is something I read on the Internet. Between cats. :-/ )

Are you absolutely sure those arguments are pointless

magnificent bait

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#234

Post by mattlondon »

My favourite one that surprised me and continues to surprise people: kids that have grown up with smartphones and iPads from birth are computer illiterate.

People see their 5 year old using an iPad and the knee-jerk cliche thought/assumption us the classic "oh wow these kids just get technology!" (recall all the "I need my kid to program the VCR" type stuff from the 80s/90s - it is the same thing of older people assuming current children innately understand the current tech)

Yet while today's kids may know how to stab at a screen to get videos of Peppa pig to play, there are people starting to come through to their mid and late teens who don't know how to use a mouse and keyboard with any level of dexterity, or don't know what a "file" is or what folders/directories are etc because that is all hidden away on an iPad. As a result they struggle to do even the most basic tasks that we all take for granted... and they don't get taught because everyone thinks they already know it having grown up with an iPad in their pram.

I chuckle to my self sometimes when I see a toddler walk up to a TV or video advert and try touching it a few times, then walk away confused because what they thought was a touch screen isn't doing anything when they touch it.

Fascinating.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#235

Post by [deleted] »

mattlondon wrote: post #234

My favourite one that surprised me and continues to surprise people: kids that have grown up with smartphones and iPads from birth are computer illiterate. People see their 5 year old using an iPad and the knee-jerk cliche thought/assumption us the classic "oh wow these kids just get technology!" (recall all the "I need my kid to program the VCR" type stuff from the 80s/90s - it is the same thing of older people assu…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#236

Post by telesilla »

danschumann wrote: post #8

I'm miserable and all the tech that has "enabled me to do anything" has made everything seem arbitrary. If you can do anything, why do anything?

I grew up far away from anywhere and I've had the complete opposite experience - tech has enabled me to do everything I ever wanted, I have a life that most are envious of and I have independence and autonomy in ways that were unimaginable 30 years ago - autonomy that I built myself. Try wanting something, and seeing if you can work hard to get it. It might just make that misery disappear, quite quickly.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#237

Post by sideshowb »

greggman2 wrote: post #165
sideshowb wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are also not supposed to step from sidewalk into road without looking.

It's hard for me to have sympathy for cyclists as I see so many run red lights and plow directly through pedestrians even when the pedestrians have the right of way. Maybe that's a few bad apples but it happens enough that it feels like the norm. Yes, 2 wrongs to make a right. If the light is red and the pedestrian is crossing without looking then I'd also be upset at the pedestrian.

Have you ever taken note of how often motorists exceed the speed limit?

I think you've shifted context from general sidewalks to red lights though. I think 99 percent of red light running cyclists would agree you have to do that carefully and assume people will step out at that point. The bad apples are the ones who aren't careful about it.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#239

Post by alecco »

pbosko wrote: post #220
gorgoiler wrote: post #167

Journey time calculations in Google maps, Uber etc. mean no one I know is ever on time. If you need to be somewhere at 8:30 and the journey “takes 17 minutes”, one psychologically sets 8:13 as the deadline for leaving the house. You pick up your keys at 8:13, actually leave a few minutes later, hit traffic or take a wrong turn or two, and end up crossing the threshold at your destination fifteen minutes late. It’s no…

Google's estimation for my country is always less than what is achievable if you stick to the speed limit. I guess they calculate it based on other drivers.

I recently rushed to catch public transport earlier than the one in the Google Maps trip and now all trips estimate my walking time as running time.

Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?

#240

Post by muzani »

munmaek wrote: post #186
muzani wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an app for that: Truecaller. It crowdsources who is calling.

Why would I hand over my contact info to some app?

Because everyone else has done it for you. It's no worse than LinkedIn but actually useful.
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