To be totally sick of modern technology and having to do so much online

[Lifeomars]

i have been almost reduced to screaming and crying over the past three days due to almost everything having to be dealt with online.

!. I ordered some hair straighteners online from Boots, all fine and dandy. I got a text from Royal Mail saying they would be delivered on 26 Nov and giving me the tracking details. They never showed up and tracking showed them as being at sorting centre. This message showed every day for the following week, trying to track it online did not work. Going onto Boots website had a piece of info saying not to contact them until 7 working days had elapsed without them turning up. 7 days passed and I went back on the Boots site .After a good few minutes of scrolling through rather unclear information I then had to engage with a bot to try and explain what was happening (or not happening in my case). The box to enter my order number in would not work and after trying for 20 mins and feeling like ripping my (unstraightened) hair our I tried to use the email facility. This took another 10 minutes as all you are allowed to do is scroll though to find the option. It keeps trying to divert you to their FAQ but in the end I managed to fill it in. The whole process was hideous and I kept thinking that a 5 minute conversation with a human being would have sorted it out.

2, Today I had a message from my phone provider EE saying I had exceeded my "spend cap". I have been with them for two years and was not even aware that I had one. Can't phone them as I now cannor use my phone, can't log into my account on my laptop as I cannot remember my password (never use the online account). To set a new password requires that they send me a text, phone is now not even receiving texts which is odd so atm I am phoneless. I do not use my phone excessively, a bit of WhatsApp, some texts, and all the online stuff is done via my broadband account. Basically I feel that I have been almost driven to the brink by tech over the past few days. Great when it works but when it plays up it seems to take so much mental energy to sort it all out.

First, you’ll need to download an app and set a password

I agree with you OP. Tech is bordering on the overwhelming these days and takes so much time to do anything!

I just find it really weird that people defending IT because they get anxious speaking to people...that
worries me !Personal and verbal communication is a normal way to interact,

Yes, being told your face is not your face is the ultimate in modern dystopian alienation. I’ve had this!

Yep - it should be cheaper to use the app, not more expensive! A complete rip off

Yep.
I recently was curious about my iq score, so I did an online test for 49p. Got my results in and was pleased.

Turns out they signed me up to a subscription for £39.99 a month without my knowledge.

Not so clever after all eh :/

In August I lost part of my holiday due to a fucking algorithm. Be warned, it happens a lot. Booked a hotel overseas 10 months early with an online booking agency, paid a deposit and gave usual card details etc. The company takes final payment a few days before travel. Dh had updated his card during the year so when the automatic transaction kicked in it rejected. They sent a notification email which went to Dh work address but as he was already on annual leave he didn't get it. Next day he went into his account to confirm booking details to see a note beside it marked cancelled. He could just as easily not checked. No one to call and sort it out. We phoned the hotel to say the cancellation was an error but they had just given it away and nothing could be done. This was 48 hours before a flight with 3 kids. We got somewhere else but it was basic and no facilities, not even a pool and cost more than our original hotel. Ironically we got it due to a last minute cancellation, no doubt another poor family had the same experience. The scary thing is we may have not realised until we arrived at the hotel and ended up sleeping on a bench somewhere.

I’ve been TRYING to talk to TalkTalk today.

Oh the irony…

I hear you! Broke my phone a few weeks ago and thought the quick solution was to put my sim in my son's phone. The phone then decided I was a thief and wouldn't let me log out of his icloud into my own. I had some uni work to do, but to get onto the uni site I needed to use the authenticator app on my phone. So I downloaded it and tried to log in. To get approval for the authenticator, I needed to get a code from my email, which I was logged out of and needed to use the authenticator to get back into. Back and forth this went until I gave up. I then went into uni and was marked absent because I couldn't get on to the online register to put the code in due to authenticator thing. Grrr!

All dressed up by companies it's better for you the customer..no it's better for the company as we do the admin for free.

Why didn't you just phone boots customer service number? And EE you dial 150 - it's really not difficult.

That's not an algorithm that's called banking security - for all they know your husband changed his card because of fraudulent charges being made, it got lost/stolen or when his new card arrived he could have disposed of it without cutting it up etc ; so obviously any pre-approved payments made on that card would be stopped.
The fact that your husband used his work email for a holiday that would be taken while on annual leave was the actual problem here!

I find it really weird that even in 2024 there are still ableist people that don't understand that things like autism and mental illness exist that make verbal communication difficult!

I agree OP.

I mostly manage ok, but I work at a library and every day we have people in who cannot cope with all the technology and online world. people who are poor and have no internet at home and no phone, people who are elderly, people who have cognitive impairment, for all kinds of reasons, and even quite a lot of people who are just a little slow.

Stuff like two factor authentication are a disaster for them. Many struggle to sign up for a loyalty card, regularly get locked out of accounts, can't manage two factor authentication. They can't access legal documents, get health appointments, or access their tax information. They struggle to buy a cell phone, and certainly can't figure out how to cancel a service they no longer need.

I had one women who I made a new Gmail account for every day for a week because she could not remember the address or password. Finally I made a laminated card for her to carry around with her other important cards.

We've created a world that is deeply hostile to those who aren't mentally quick enough.

@DiamondGoldandSilver and @Gleeanda One of the most powerful tools I use hundreds of times daily—and a true game-changer for productivity on my PC—is the clipboard. Did you know it can store up to 25 items, including pages of text, images, lists, or even emojis, for easy reuse? Whether you’re drafting emails, filling out online forms working in Excel or Word, it’s a lifesaver for repetitive tasks or when you need to quickly access frequently used content. Sometimes, I even use the clipboard as a quick way to jog my memory!
Simply copy or cut items as usual, then press the Windows Key + V to access your clipboard history anytime and select what you need. Even better you can "pin" important items—like an email signature, a frequently used email response, or a favourite emoji—so they stay saved and are always available no matter how often you update your clipboard.
Give it a try—you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it! When I showed this trick to my tech-savvy daughter, even she was impressed. It’s a shame that on phones, you still need a separate app to get similar functionality!

As above people who are tech savvy there are some that don't appreciate the very real difficulties others experience with this on a daily basis.
I know of someone with literacy, numeracy issues and struggles with a pen ..was told to go online to do something... really.

I went into the branch of a bank I’ve been with over 25 years, after having some ID issues online for opening a new savings account, but I was told I couldn’t prove I was me in person, had to do it online as it was for an online only account. I laughed out loud and mocked the system, not the person not helping me, so was eventually offered the alternative of coming back into a branch with two official pieces of ID in addition to my bank card and statement that could only be seen on the banking app (ffs), so I could prove who I was standing in the branch saying I was…it’s all bonkers!

I find their sm pages to be a very useful tool.

My df is 82 and had a hospital appointment booked. He had a text the day before confirming it to which he responded and went the next day to be told it had been cancelled and they'd phoned him about it! They rearranged it and he couldn't make the rearranged day as he was away so they rearranged it for the same day, an hour earlier. He tried contacting them by phone numerous times and it kept cutting him off. He tried different numbers. He missed the appointment and got a letter to say he'd been removed from their 'books' for non attendance ( he has cancer). On Monday he went to the hospital in person and it has been sorted but just being able to speak to someone would have been easier and less stressful.

Octopus do have real people on the end of the phone and they are really helpful.

I have been helping an elderly friend do some life admin eg. Insurance, quotations for house maintenance, booking train tickets , uploading photos required for a claim etc etc . I live some distance away and cannot continue
i think Age Concern or some other charity should finance an IT helper at the local library to help those who cannot get to grips with modern technology. Would be a good job for a student at college if they have the patience and a nice bridge between the generations.

I’m currently annoyed at the increase in spam phone calls I’m getting, and it’s since I ordered Xmas gifts online, but they won’t let you order without putting your phone number in.

I get that it's frustrating (the Boots website seems to be notoriously shit and dysfunctional) but almost "screaming and crying" feels like a slightly disproportionate response. Are you feeling OK in yourself generally?

@Antiopa12 yours is a good suggestion unfortunately libraries are getting thin on the ground because of council cutbacks.

In general I’ve found online a huge help in places, hindrance in others. In our town the train station only has online booking for parking apart from one meter in the station (they were previously dotted around the car park and couldn’t get it to work/ load the other day when I was just about late to work. The only meter now is inside and there was a queue. I was nearly bawling crying by the time I paid for parking