Things that are meant to be better but are not better

[CrocsNotDocs]

Look, I’m not a Luddite- I usually love technology.

But why oh why have headphones jacks been removed from phones and tablets? I don’t want Bluetooth headphones or earbuds that I have to worry about charging before I go anywhere and that cost a zillion dollars. I want cheap old fashioned headphones that don’t go flat that can be plugged into your device and just work. I don’t want to use the charging port for headphones- I like to charge my device while using it. I want headphone jacks back.

YABU- Everything new is always better
YANBU- some things were not broken and should have been left alone

Light switches that are ‘smart’. Solving a problem that did not exist.

App-based ordering at restaurants. Just no, loads of faff, does people out of jobs, can’t customise, and THEN it has the cheek to auto-add a 12.5% tip.

Most online booking things where you have to try to sign in/ forget password/ reset password/check email for reset link. So much easier to call up: do you have a table/ slot? Great, thanks, see you then (the end)

Subscriptions. For bloody everything. So unnecessary.

Absolutely agree on the smart light switches.

However, I love QR code ordering- you can secure your table and browse the menu in peace! No queuing and not being able to see the one menu which is taped down on the front counter until you are right in front of the cashier!

Also love online restaurant booking- you have it in writing so no miscommunications ever.

A good restaurant or cafe should offer both to keep everyone happy!

I bought my phone specifically because it has a headphone jack. There aren't many out there but you can still find them.

My iPad is due to be upgraded but I am dreading losing my headphone jack.

There is such a thing as a connector which allows you to still plug your earphones into your phones in the charging port, you can get then on Amazon.

My husband introduced me to this after I was having the exact same rant to him.

AI

I can't use ear buds because my earholes are too small. This pisses me right off.

The principal of my kid’s school uses AI for all of his speeches. You can just tell.

TV is now broken up into a million different subscriptions. Seems much worse to me.

All of the above! Thankfully, my laptop at least has still got a headphone jack port (although, sadly not longer a CD drive). The technology exists today to hear wonderful music with great fidelity, but most of the time, we don't/can't take full advantage of it.

Which means you can't charge while using headphones

I solved this by pirating everything, not even sorry.

Digital everything is shit.

Analogue was better. And it worked.

Smart meters.

I'd agree on the headphones thing, also I preferred when phones had batteries you could separate/replace

You can get an external CD drive off Amazon for twenty quid.

I'm disabled so turning lights down / off with my voice is a life saver.

On the electronic booking, try booking a theatre seat and a 'carer' ticket. They tell you to call, and then charge you for not booking online.

I also miss the news just being at 6pm and 9pm. A headline, second headline, other important stuff, a couple of overseas things, local news and weather and I am as knowledgeable as I need to be about current affairs. This, combined with the morning paper was sufficient.

Now you turn on Sky or BBC and it’s just random chatting or really in depth analysis. I miss the old news style.

I've come to the conclusion that at least half of the people I interact with are AI. Can't decide whether that's good or bad though.

Touchscreen cookers- give me a damn dial!

Thanks! Just went to buy one of these, and found you can also now get earphones with a USB-C connector 🙂

I do kind of agree that everything's being digitised whether it needs it or not. Why, in the name of any god, do household appliances need to be online? It's great for those who like being able to switch the washer on remotely or have their fridge order their shopping for them, but why is it getting so difficult to find machines that just do what you want when you push the button?? My washer isn't 'smart' but it still needs three different button presses in the correct order to get going - and has secret functions that you access with secret button sequences, which you have to go online to find out about

My printer won't even work if it's not online. This baffles me. My shonky broadband goes out when we have heavy rain, so I can't bloody print anything in wet weather. It also plays tunes for no reason I've been able to discern. Someone in HP product development actually went "Let's build in a feature that stops the customer using her printer!" ... and they all went "Great idea, Sam, go for it! And make it musical!" WHY??

News of connected medical implants terrifies me. I'm not afraid of "Them" controlling me remotely or any of that shit - well, apart from the function the device is supposed to control - but have these people never visited the real world, where wireless connections drop or don't exist at all?

I love tech and am the opposite of a Luddite. But I do a lot of eye-rolling about pointless improvements that needlessly complicate things. God help us all when the Great Cyber Attack succeeds. No making yourself a cup of tea, since the power and water supplies depend on t'internet, and our analogue phone service will have been switched off so we won't be able to moan to each other 😬

Apple anything. Plus AI is useless if you can't trust what it tells you, which you can't as it 'hallucinates' aka makes things up.

But OP I don’t want Bluetooth headphones or earbuds that I have to worry about charging before I go anywhere and that cost a zillion dollars

My Bluetooth earbuds cost about £30 and last for tens of hours on a single charge. I used them on a walking holiday last week for hours every day and they didn't need charging once.

I'm meh about a lot of technology, but my earbuds, podcasts (and my Kindle) are the three things that I've really embraced. I love that I can listen when I walk and run without getting tangled up in a wire when I need to take my coat off.

My Bluetooth earphones are pretty good, too, @Bjorkdidit. But they fall out of my ears! I wanted some wired ones so they'll still be attached to me when they fall off. Now ordered from the Evil Chinese Marketplace for four quid, thanks to this thread. (I totally do buy stuff from there, when it's patently the same thing a UK seller charges five times as much for!)

Sunday lunch sharing platters. I don’t want to spend time carving a joint for a whole table and doling out roast potatoes whilst letting my own go cold, thank you.