Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

Manual controls. There's a lot to like about the infinite reconfigurability of touchscreens and on-screen controls, but there was also a lot to like about being able to find controls without looking and getting positive tactile feedback when you pressed or turned something. This is especially true in cars, but it shows up in other areas (e.g. kitchen equipment) as well.

Related: human-oriented design in general. Every interface nowadays seems to be defined by the designer's whims and pure aesthetics, not what would actually be functional for users.

Social media in particular really degraded my social life for a number of years prior to minimizing Facebook in my life. I found that:

1. With all the little updates you get through Facebook, a lot of people feel that there isn't as much need for meeting, talking, or doing stuff together. I've found the reality to be otherwise; connections are deeper with better quality of time with a person and there are a lot of things that people simply aren't comfortable discussing on FB (mental health, relationship problems, health problems, etc).

2. Social media can give the impression that you have nothing new to talk about with someone. Since I've cut social media out of a lot of my personal life, I can actually call somebody I haven't talked to a year and have a lot to discuss. It's a lot more fulfilling to hear about somebody's new relationship/breakup/child/vacation than it is to get a sanitized summary of the same online.

3. I hadn't realized it since I stopped using FB, but there's a general sense of anxiety that I've found comes from regular usage. I think between the unfeeling algorithmic drive for engagement and the human tendency for information addiction, the need to check one's feed or friend group is a constant thing. I've been a lot happier and experiencing a lot less ambient anxiety without it.

The conclusion I've come to is that social networks, at least how they're run and built today, or a very bad replacement for real human connection. I'd urge everyone to do the following whenever someone you care about comes to mind:

1. Have you spoken with them recently? If not, send them a text and see if they're free to call.

2. Are you not close and nervous about calling? Send them a text/email/letter letting them know you thought about them and share something.

3. Have someone you haven't spoken to in a while due to an argument or disagreement and regret losing touch? Reach out! Talk about it. Time heals many wounds, and with perspective, empathy, and a willingness to hear each other out you'll be surprised at how many friendships can be rekindled.

It's been a rough few years. A contact out of the blue from an old acquaintance or friend can me the world to people. Remember that you're not alone and that whatever anxiety or loneliness you feel is a very human experience we all share.

Cars.

I appreciate all of the advances in emissions reduction, safety, etc., but when I was a kid I learned the basics of working on nearly any car on the market, and now even with an OBD scanner most of them are still near unfixable without visiting a dealership. Cars are literally immobilized by things like faulty sensors when if ignored, the car would legitimately still work just fine.

That's just the purely functional stuff. The hassle-ware that's been installed between in dash "infotainment" systems, integrations with remote third parties, etc., I honestly believe is more distracting and dangerous than genuinely helpful. We've grown accustomed to this so much that people have told me they are "bored" driving sometimes without all of their gadgetry. That shouldn't be the state of normal when driving, it should be "I am operating heavy machinery and should pay attention to what I'm doing because my life does depend on it".

It's interesting to me that our trend with software has been to simplify interfaces over the years and cars just keep adding buttons and integrations and auxiliary ports for devices, and excuse themselves with useless friendly warnings that tell you not to use them while you're using the car.

Latency, god yes, that drives me bananas. Mechanical tuners, push buttons, dials all responded immediately.

Can you expand on this some more?