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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Times technology has made life harder...

99 replies

Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 11:20

I recently got a new phone with fingerprint recognition. I've never had one before and I liked the novelty sad I know

A few weeks later I burned the finger and the skin came off... fingerprint recognition no longer worked to unlock my phone. It had prompted me while setting it up to set a 'back up' pin but as I never used it I promptly forgot it. Had to wait until the fingerprint grew back enough to unlock the phone again. Luckily it was only a day or two (albeit multiple attempts at a funny angle!)

Has anyone else got any weird technology gripes to make me feel less of a moron? I will be guarding the finger with my life in future!

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Raver84 · 30/07/2019 14:15

Don't know if it's me or the device but a couple of years ago I bought my kids the amazon tablets. They still make me shake with rage I just can't get to grips with how they work at all. So un user friendly. So theve not been charged for about a year.

Oven timer on new range cooker. No idea how to use. Ditto the self clean function.

Always found older vaccum cleaner s better than the newer charagable ones.

Really hate school parent mail, using the tech to apparantly make things easier but it's just easier for them to email me shite 5 times a day.

ohcanada · 30/07/2019 14:16

@Sparklfairy haha ok

Ariela · 30/07/2019 14:24

The downsides of an iris scanning phone is if you wear glasses it cannot 'see' your iris through them correctly.

SpeedyShutter · 30/07/2019 15:02

Voice recognition doesn't understand my South Yorkshire accent very well either!

Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 15:15

I have what I thought was a pretty standard easy to understand accent (Kent/London), and voice recognition has always failed me! Doesn't help that when it starts typing absolute gibberish instead of what I've said I start giggling uncontrollably whilst still trying to speak which makes it even worse!

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Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 15:18

Raver84 I've had the same most times I've bought new tablets/phones/computers. Takes me ages to get to grips with the new interface and said tablets go mostly unused except for netflix! New phone has a shorter spacebar (I can only adjust the height but not width in settings!) and I find most of my messages are garbled nonsense where I've missed the spacebar and carry on typing... Blush also got two macs (second hand) years ago having always used windows, and broke them both. I just couldn't get used to the different interface and didn't find them user friendly at all!!

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SoupDragon · 30/07/2019 15:20

I have several finger/thumbprints to unlock my phone. Useful when, similar to the OP, I burnt a smile into my usual finger with a pyrography tool. DS scanned the tip of his nose to use with his 🙄

As an aside, isn't it odd how fingerprints grow back? I thought they might be permanently damaged by a burn.

Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 15:23

SoupDragon yes, I actually wondered whether I would grow back a different fingerprint, but nope, it seems to be the same! Very strange!

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toffee1000 · 30/07/2019 15:38

I would also agree re corded headphones. Earphones (ie the in ear type) always fall out of my ears. If I had Air Pods, they would just disappear, and considering that they cost £200 that’s not a risk I’d be willing to take. The Lightning adaptors you can buy with Apple break v easily which is a ginormous pain in the arse. And yes wireless headphones lose their charge ridiculously fast.

Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 15:44

toffee1000 I used to be a cleaner and got through so many corded earphones where they would fall out of my ears and into the bath/sink of water. I would have no hope with cordless and it would be a far more expensive mistake!

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SerenDippitty · 30/07/2019 15:44

iPad charging cables always stop working eventually. Even Apple ones.

SerenDippitty · 30/07/2019 15:46

At least with cordless earphones you can see when someone’s got them in and not likely to hear you.

SerenDippitty · 30/07/2019 15:46

Corded not cordless.

Craftycorvid · 30/07/2019 15:54

Now I know where I’ve been going wrong. Should just get a cat to operate my phone instead....Grin

The biggest pain in the arse are the fancy interactive whiteboards installed in the teaching space I sometimes use. We once had a completely serious lecture from the IT guy as to how our students could share their work via the scanners on their phones/ via the cloud/ etc. After a silence someone asked why they could not do what they have always done: write on some fecking flipchart paper with an actual fecking pen.

Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 16:32

Craftycorvid it gets a bit stupid after a point doesn't it? I read the other day about so called 'smart' appliances that can be switched on remotely, kettles, washing machines, ovens etc. Well unless the kettle actually fills itself with water or the washing machine loads itself with laundry there isn't much point is there? I'll already be at the machine myself and switching it on is the easy part Hmm

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MotherWol · 30/07/2019 16:37

I lost my phone at the weekend. I'm waiting for a replacement sim card, the missing handset is locked and hopefully useless to the scrote who stole it but I'm hoping I can get back my data from the cloud.

ONLY I can't get in to iCloud because in addition to your username and password (which I have), they text you a PIN every time. Which I can't get because I don't have a phone. So I have to wait at least a week until I can find out if my data's still there.

5foot5 · 30/07/2019 16:54

@Raver84 Oven timer on new range cooker. No idea how to use.

I think oven timers must be designed by morons who never cook themselves so they never think how anybody would actually like to use it.

On the rare occasions I have to use mine I need to get the instructions out, but IIRC you have to tell it what time you want the oven switched OFF and then how long you want it to be on for, then it works out what time to switch the oven on. FFS I can work out when I want the oven switching on, why can't I just give it a time and be done with it?

Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 17:57

My DM has just reminded me of one. She got a state of the art microwave oven 20+ years ago. Had presets for fresh veg, frozen veg, jacket potatoes etc. It would weigh the food itself and work out how long to cook it for itself. It died a few months ago and she replaced it with what she thought was like for like...

Neither of us can work the bloody thing. The settings are overcomplicated, timings are always off and she's paid £££ for a microwave that she has to use in the same way as a bog standard £20 one Hmm

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wanderings · 30/07/2019 18:09

Washing machines and fridges that beep at you.

And yes, keyless cars: they should never have happened. They've made cars more vulnerable to theft, not less.

Modern TVs seem to have artificial delays. Suppose you want channel 4: you press 4 on the remote, and you get channel 4 after several seconds. People who remember old TV's (press a button on TV itself, satisfying clunk confirms the change) often think the TV hasn't responded, so they press 4 again. Result? Channel 44.

Computers in general. They try to be so clever, they're really unpredictable now. You pick up your laptop because you want to use it, and it says...

Installing updates, this will take a few minutes.

Grrrrrr! And then you don't know what it will surprises it will throw at you after the updates.

At least the old, clunky computers of the 1980s and early 90s were predictable, you knew where you were with them. I liked Windows 98: I think all versions of Windows since then have been rubbish.

I also dislike the informal messages that Windows seems to have gone for, such as "Hmmm... we can't find this page".

Di11y · 30/07/2019 18:18

it's the car parks where you have to pay by phone plus 20p for the 'convenience' umm not convenient! contactless is fine.

Jemima232 · 30/07/2019 18:39

My washing machine.

I'd forgotten the several days I spent in front of it, sitting on a chair, fiddling with it.

There was no user manual. I phoned the manufacturers and they told me that such a manual didn't exist "as it was so easy for customers to understand how the machine worked."

Really? I mean, are you serious?

It has a Wi-Fi function too. Even my DD who is very keen on technology, cannot think of a reason why a washing machine should need a Wi-Fi function.

I know how to work it now but it took me weeks to get used to it.

Weeks of my life which I shall never get back. Sucks to you, Whirlpool.

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 30/07/2019 18:39

You can get keyless cars? Wow. I did not know that. My car doesn't even have central locking Grin

Jemima232 · 30/07/2019 18:42

I'll already be at the machine myself and switching it on is the easy part

Not with the washing machine chez Jemima.

TabbyMumz · 30/07/2019 20:02

Passwords. A family member had a catastrophic illness recently..think brain injury. All passwords zonked from memory, including phone password, email password etc. Couldn't get into emails, but they would send a new password to phone, which couldn't get into either. Had to get phone completely reset. Never got into emails. Of course most bank stuff sent to emails. Couldn't get into bank statements either. Bank wouldn't set new passwords up without consent. Person with brain issue couldn't consent. Bills coming in and no wages as off sick. Power of attorney takes weeks to set up. Bank would only help if person verbally consented. Person couldn't speak due to brain issues. All started with passwords!!!

Sparklfairy · 30/07/2019 22:05

TabbyMumz that is absolutely awful Sad Flowers

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