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

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

#421

Post by jhickok »

dntrkv wrote: post #407
jhickok wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Information hoarding, distraction and FOMO You know, I used to jump from one thing to the next never giving anything enough time. I would attend digital conferences, watch PARTS of courses on Pluralsight, LinuxAcademy (RIP) and youtube, hoard books, bookmark websites etc. Something happened a few years ago where I was able to just turn it all off. I deleted all my pdfs and removed all my bookmarks. I began focusing…

I did the same thing. Used to hoard data, bookmarks, pdfs, etc. Then I put all my data on an external drive and into some bin in the garage, deleted all my bookmarks and stopped saving them. And then realized... I don't need any of it. It's all just mental baggage. Nowadays if I find an interesting article and don't have time to read it I might leave it open for a day, but then I just close it. I discover new interes…

Yep, I agree with your last point especially. I try to read the thing right away now but I don't save something unless it's necessary. It's a mental tax that I never end up paying off.

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

#422

Post by rco8786 »

lolsal wrote: post #404
rco8786 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're thinking about it backwards. Technology created this problem. Choosing to not be available is effectively making yourself a social pariah if your social circle is otherwise highly available.

> Technology created this problem. ...No. Your adoption of technology/social media into every facet of your life created this problem. I work in tech and I am not available when I'm not working. I don't participate in social media, but my social life is thriving during a pandemic. > Choosing to not be available is effectively making yourself a social pariah if your social circle is otherwise highly available. This so…

> No. Your adoption of technology/social media into every facet of your life created this problem.

No, society's adoption created this problem, not an individual.

> This sounds like a problem between you and your social circle.

Now we're getting somewhere, we agree it's a problem. Congratulations that your particular social circle doesn't have this problem. But millions upon millions of them do.

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

#423

Post by rco8786 »

uoaei wrote: post #335
rco8786 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cars are literally immobilized by things like faulty sensors when if ignored, the car would legitimately still work just fine. Any concrete examples of this? FWIW, cars are orders of magnitude more reliable than they were 40, 50+ years ago even though those were easier to work on.

Assuming that reliability is weakly inversely correlated with repairability (reliable things may be more complicated and thus harder to fix without specialized tools or knowledge), I'm sure there are subjective optima that balance the two and are more practical than the current extreme of maximizing reliability but being completely crippled at the slightest disturbance.

Again, any concrete examples of "being completely crippled at the slightest disturbance."? I've had lots of cars both modern and old and never experienced a disablement due to something that wasn't truly disable worthy.

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

#424

Post by [deleted] »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #280
sneak wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, everyone makes the drug dealer joke, but the presumption/stereotype of someone carrying around 3+ iPhones of recent generation (~$1k each) and dressed well is usually not "street criminal", in my personal experience.

Why would anyone want to carry around 3+ iPhones? Anyone rich with 3+ iPhones would rather have an assistant carry the 2 other phones.

[deleted]

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

#425

Post by math_denial »

jhickok wrote: post #323
math_denial wrote: post #37

1. Information hoarding, distraction and FOMO The Internet has generated in me an habit of information hoarding. At the beginning I would bookmark useful information and then take notes on paper of the useful things; with the passing of time distraction has started to creep in: more and more useless information, more and more FOMO. 2. Omnipresence of tech and privacy concerns An increasing number of actions require e…

>Information hoarding, distraction and FOMO You know, I used to jump from one thing to the next never giving anything enough time. I would attend digital conferences, watch PARTS of courses on Pluralsight, LinuxAcademy (RIP) and youtube, hoard books, bookmark websites etc. Something happened a few years ago where I was able to just turn it all off. I deleted all my pdfs and removed all my bookmarks. I began focusing…

I actually got the motivation to delete everything except what I need daily. I had more than 19000 e-books: more than 280GB. I've decided that I will now download a book or an article only if it is part of a larger project instead of junk collecting.

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

#426

Post by arprocter »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #394
arprocter wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iirc it happened on a friend's 6th gen Ford Fiesta I doubt there's a big list somewhere as it isn't something the manufacturers are proud about

What? Not sure what years are in that generation but my gf owned a 2014 Ford Fiesta (the final generation) and replacing headlights was a 5 minute job. I did it several times...

Strange - possible I'm misremembering, as this was about a decade ago

I just looked it up and seems like you have to remove the entire headlight from the car, so maybe he took one look at it and decided it could be someone else's problem

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

#427

Post by uoaei »

conductr wrote: post #264

LEDs. Why does everything need to be lit? I bought a toaster, now my kitchen glows. I bought a toothbrush, now my bathroom glows. Etc, etc. Why do manufacturers insist on making things always glow?

Totally. Photo studio with sick backdrops? Looks great. Random 80s era bathroom counter with many other appliances/bottles/etc. around? Looks ridiculous.

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

#428

Post by lobocinza »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #360
lobocinza wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ads are pointless. No matter how much human capital was invested in making targeted ads possible, only very rarely I see something that I might be interested in buying. And I can't remember a thing that I bought due to ads. They are a better signal of what to not buy.

No matter how much human capital was invested in making targeted ads possible, only very rarely I There is the issue. "I." You may be one in 100,000. Also there is a trickle-down effect. A brand will spend enough dollars to attract a certain number of fans, then those fans attract others organically. Many will say you "Ads do not work on me," but unless you know exactly why you choose product X or Y, it is difficult…

Yes, I know I'm probably an exception and there's the problem of the observed being the observer. What I can say is that I haven't seen ads of most of the stuff I bought recently. I don't see companies with good and afordable products spending much in ads.

I'm stunned when I see it but I agree that the average person is heavily influenced by advertisement. Influencers and ads can implant ideas in the minds of people that they replicate with absolute naturalness without thinking about it ever. Like: "X is the best Y". Which reminds me of Venus Inc.

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

#429

Post by donmcronald »

rsp1984 wrote: post #231

The web experience. I long back for those days where you used to be able to just type in a URL or click a link and arrive at a webpage without much fuss about it. If the page wasn't what you were looking for, NBD, you just moved on. The experience nowadays is more like: * Google for thing XYZ, wait for some seconds until the result page layout is final due to additional crap being loaded in the background * scrolling…

I often find MS Edge usurping my exact URLs (ex: example.com) and turning them into search queries. It's infuriating. It also feels like auto-complete for URLs I visit frequently has been sabotaged to inflate search numbers.

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

#430

Post by netizen-936824 »

ok_dad wrote: post #4

Advertising. I know this is an extreme view, but I think any advertising other than a spec sheet style ad (just facts) should be banned. I feel like it steals your attention and mindshare day after day. The ads I see on TV now (rarely, as I don't watch live TV much) are just so horrible. Dripping with emotions and trying to tug on your heartstrings to sell some toilet bowl cleaner or some other garbage. Social media.…

I agree with your sentiment, and I think that having profit incentives tied into fucking everything is actually a horrible idea and makes many things worse for living in society
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