Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
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Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
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Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#2I don't have a problem with technology. I have a problem with technology trends that are irrational.
For example the smart phone. A physical button or even alexa is easier to turn off the lights. A smart phone menu is just stupid.
I want to decouple stupidity away from technology. That's not possible though. Most places where I worked... just a exploring the code for a couple minutes I encounter something stupid. So it's an impossible endeavor. Stupidity is intrinsic to humanity and since humanity builds technology, stupidity is therefore intrinsic to technology.
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#3Maybe this is a privileged outlook, but I've decided that each piece of technology needs to earn its place in my life, and I'm going to use it deliberately for a specific purpose, if I deem it to be worthy. The smartphone has not earned it yet.
Im not going to live in an apartment that requires a smartphone to get into the door. That may involve me making sacrifices, I don't care. You have to draw a line somewhere. If parking somewhere requires an app, or eating at a restaurant requires a QR code, I'm just going to go somewhere else. I'm not going to chain myself to a smartphone just because society is addicted. Just like I didn't take up smoking back when everyone around me smoked. And when I do need to use my phone, I pick it up, use it for a purpose, and then put it down. No idle, passive scrolling allowed. No notifications. DND mode 24/7. It is not allowed to interrupt me with a call or a message. When I stop work, the phone goes in a drawer until tomorrow. When I go on vacation, the phone gets packed deep in the emergency baggie, or just not brought at all. This autonomy requires a little sacrifice, and stings a little if you're not used to it. But, ultimately I think it's better for my health, both physical and mental.
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#4I don't have a problem with technology. I have a problem with technology trends that are irrational. For example the smart phone. A physical button or even alexa is easier to turn off the lights. A smart phone menu is just stupid. I want to decouple stupidity away from technology. That's not possible though. Most places where I worked... just a exploring the code for a couple minutes I encounter something stupid. So…
> A smart phone menu is just stupid.
You could try Simple X Mobile: https://sxmo.org/
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#5It looks like a better title for this article would be "Should We Decouple Phones from Everyday Life?"
And my answer to that is: absolutely.
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#6Maybe this is a privileged outlook, but I've decided that each piece of technology needs to earn its place in my life, and I'm going to use it deliberately for a specific purpose, if I deem it to be worthy. The smartphone has not earned it yet. Im not going to live in an apartment that requires a smartphone to get into the door. That may involve me making sacrifices, I don't care. You have to draw a line somewhere. I…
Great lessons to be learned from the Amish. This is basically what they do, just the decision is made as a community rather than per individual.
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#7I'm intrigued. We should think about this more.
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#8I recently won a water bottle in a raffle.
It looked nice, stainless steel, big (probably 2 liters). When I unwrapped it, I saw a QR code that said "Instructions." Weird, why would I need instructions for a water bottle? Then I saw a large rubber plug in the bottom.
I realized with horror, it's a bluetooth enabled heating/cooling element controlled by an app I'm supposed to download. The heating element is huge, takes up half the volume of the bottle. So now this water bottle:
1. Needs power. 2. Needs an app. 3. Has less water capacity.
All so it can just do the same thing as a normal insulated bottle and some ice cubes.
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#9Maybe this is a privileged outlook, but I've decided that each piece of technology needs to earn its place in my life, and I'm going to use it deliberately for a specific purpose, if I deem it to be worthy. The smartphone has not earned it yet. Im not going to live in an apartment that requires a smartphone to get into the door. That may involve me making sacrifices, I don't care. You have to draw a line somewhere. I…
yes we need to play Apple's iPad from machine press ad in reverse
Re: Should We Decouple Technology from Everyday Life?
#10Maybe this is a privileged outlook, but I've decided that each piece of technology needs to earn its place in my life, and I'm going to use it deliberately for a specific purpose, if I deem it to be worthy. The smartphone has not earned it yet. Im not going to live in an apartment that requires a smartphone to get into the door. That may involve me making sacrifices, I don't care. You have to draw a line somewhere. I…
> If parking somewhere requires an app, or eating at a restaurant requires a QR code, I'm just going to go somewhere else.
I always hated this kind of technology use. I love technology when it is used to do things that were not possible before or hard to accomplish. I hate QR codes, but even they can be handy at times (without the QR code I would have never encountered the DB ICE Portal for example).
The examples you brought up are small but ubiquitous enough to be extremely annoying. Instead of getting a few printed menus on the table, everybody on the table spends 10 minutes being glued to their phones, zooming and scrolling around to make sense of the offer and select something. Instead of just being able to pull a parking ticket at a meter I have to figure out which of the damn apps I have to use to pay for my parking. And with scammers almost always being smarter then the service providers, I now also have to make sure that I don't fall for "Quishing" scams [1] (honestly no clue if that is as thing elsewhere)
[1]: German: https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/digitale-welt/phis...