To be so drained and fed up of constant electronic forms and passwords and apps?

[Bananabreadandcupofcoffeethanks]

Hate it so much I can't express it. Nothing works right for me, you need a fairly recent smartphone for apps to work for example.

Then with electronic forms. Fuck me. I'm trying to fill in a whole complicated form for an appointment and cannot get the 'electronically fillable' form to work. So now I have to print it, and hope the printer works, and then take a photo and scan or something.

I don't have the energy to do this now. It is now a whole multi step process with lots of little bits to get the task done.

I just fucking hate it all when it comes to appointments and job applications and whatnot, and then everything needing an app, or an account with a password that needs xyz to meet criteria.

God needed to get that off my chest.

If people want to go old school and have the retro experience of a paper and pen form only, apply for PIP. Mysteriously not only can it not be done online, there isn't even an electronic form.

I leave readers to draw their own conclusions.

There are a few shopping malls around that has a ticket machine barrier where you take a ticket then pay at the machine at the end of your ' shopping experience' are the best ( old school ones )
They still exist and it's such a relief to know exactly what we are doing. I fear such places may start to go over to other more complex ways of parking though..

Just parked, paid on RingGo. Took about 25 seconds, if I end up staying longer than planned I can extend it. Don't need to remember how long I paid for because I can check on the app any time. Love it.

I hear you! Especially parking apps.

I have been sent an at-home urine test for kidney function. It involves an app with a virtual assistant who talks you through the process (not remotely offputting!). What happened to the simple dipstick test? No wonder the NHS is on its knees with that sort of money wasting.

Also NatWest digidocs: you are a disgrace.

Me too. It’s such a simple but well designed app. On my phone it shows a ticker on the lock screen letting me know how much time is left.

Our county council and Network Rail both use it so I find it very handy.

I hear you!

So far this morning I've had an email AND a text from my dogfood supplier telling me I have until midnight to change the order.

In the early hours I will have a text AND email to say I can no longer change the order.

Sunday sometime I will have a text AND email to say that the courier has the parcel

The courier will also text me to say they have the parcel

Monday I'll have a text from the courier saying my parcel will be delivered today

A further text to say approximately when

Another text saying parcel delivered

A text request to review the delivery

Another text request to review the delivery as I've ignored the first one

So utterly unnecessary, annoying and just electronic clutter I don't need in my life

I've found my people!!!!
100% agree OP.

Personally I quite like parking apps. But I don't carry a random assortment of shrapnel around with me to feed the myriad of machines that exist. That's when the machine is working.

However the multiplicity - like the bewildering availability of media providers that seem unable to offer a single point of payment and subscription - is intensely irritating.

Sometimes I vague feel like saying to the organisation I am dealing with they will need to download the "Jane app" in order to deal with me.

Luckily no one really cares about accessibility in the UK, as most shitty apps are nowhere near making reasonable adjustments for the less able.

Password managers deal with most of these issues, the Apple one works really well.

Won't you think about the poor people whose job is to try and keep systems safe knowing that people hate passwords, hate apps, hate constant verifications via their phone - or authenticator apps, write their passwords down, reuse passwords etc.

I totally get people's hate of such things. At the same time, systems need to be kept safe and secure.

The neverending emails or texts of a delivery to your home or whatever
It is rather over the top , until there is a problem, then it seems to go very tits up and people lose interest. It only flows one way it seems

PDFs are tiny, how many bookings do you have. Just delete once you’ve been if it’s an actual issue

I was having just this conversation with a colleague last week be both have iPhones less than a year old!!

then why don't you say something? that's bad project management if that's not facilitated.

We do, or at least the ones in my team do, all the time. If you have a Product and Development Directors who are like brick walls, deviations or rewrites to areas of specs, won't happen.

Which would be great if they all just stuck with RingGo.

Also there's the question of how much energy is wasted used with all this usage (not by users but by the servers).

I went shopping a couple years ago and the car park machines
were all out of order. I ended up helping a couple of older people to
download the parking app. They really struggled to understand what to do. Sadly it is happening more and more to a generation who have rarely used or wanted this technology. It did make me wonder what they would have done if people hadn’t had a phone and just driven away. Would they have had a good case to not pay a penalty charge?

Try the ' ring go ' system in certain roads in Reading. It just sends you into a spiral of despair.
You end up ' ring going ' in circles
(Mind you , my phone senses a parking app and decides to switch off from working , it clearly hates them as much as I do)
I admit I'm not good with tech though.

I've worked in tech for a very long time.

When websites started being a thing, and I was developing them, I commented on accessibility (well, lack thereof to a manager), suggesting it was easy to buld in at the design stage.

"We're not doing that" was the answer.

and 25 years, here we are. Not only no better. Worse. I speak as I find. the UK has no concern for accessibility, or the less able in wider society.

Although, ironically, it's 100x easier to use a parking app than it is to use a machine from a wheelchair most of the time. Not that was ever a factor in the decision.

It’s also dependent on the power of the signal. I live in a town with a very patchy mobile coverage but where the council have decided to move everything onto the apps . You see people walking up and down the road desperately trying to get a signal to pay . There is still a cash/card option but it’s apparently being turned off in 2024, this in a town which is a popular retirement place and where there are a huge number of people including my PIL who gave no idea what an app even is .

@pjani agree!!

I do quite like RingGo, and most of car parks I park in use it. I can't be doing with unnecessary apps though. Through health insurance I recently had a consultant appointment at a big health clinic in central London. I got an email telling me I must download their app, and complete some important forms before my appointment. I duly downloaded it, and the forms were confirming my address and contact details, and asking me if I'd had COVID or COVID symptoms prior to my appointment. After the appointment, I got lots of messages via the app asking how they did (they, the centre, not my individual consultant or his secretary) and what did I think of the app. So I told them 😁

Every time I load up a website, say to look at clothes or something, I end up thinking my phone or laptop has frozen. But no, it's just the delay whilst the website loads up the "Do you accept Cookies" button. Yes, fucking yes I do....cant I just say this once for everything and never have to see this again?

Also, trying to read newspaper articles on my phone. I've given up now, they just don't make any sense when they are peppered with multiple adverts, some of which jump around. Just forget it!

Not for everyone . Many are not developed for the blind or the arthritic who cannot type easily . My PIL do not have the internet and are terrified of giving their bank details to anyone due to all the ( very good) advice about scams and cons . They draw their pension out in cash and generally pay for things in cash and still like to ‘send a cheque’ .

they have no idea what an app is and think it’s scary and they cannot remember passwords so write them down. Not helpful . It has taken my mother 3 years to feel confident using her iPhone 7 she was utterly horrified when someone at the bank told her she would have to change it soon because the bank app would need a higher spec . She practically burst into tears, she just wants to speak to a person or write a letter.

so many people with elderly parents spend so much time having to support them with this stuff , it takes away independence rather than giving it .

The first use of ChatGPT publicly will probably be to remove ads from webpages.

Which is why it's obvious Google and Microsoft haven't thought about it very carefully. But that's what happens when you front load a company with marketing wonks, while laying of the people who have a clue.