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

As once said by blur… modern life is rubbish

why have headphones jacks been removed from phones and tablets?

because they are not water tight.

Parking apps
What's wrong with cash or card?

The other issue with Bluetooth...it had connected to my car when my DH got in it..I was having a conversation with my dad on the phone in the living room..imagine if it was a private convo 😂 and I'm suddenly blaring on a car speaker.

"Solving a problem that did not exist..."

Precisely, Neil Postman talks about this, it's very illuminating

Cash and card don't give a cut to the parking app companies. Which brings me to Deliveroo, Uber, Just Eat, Get Your Guide, employment agencies, etc. These days there are far too many companies out there set up to make money by exploiting the labour of others.

Don't upgrade then.

Those plastic smartcards that have replaced train tickets on some railway lines. You have to sign up, get the card, add your ticket to it, and then because you can't see the expiry date on it, you have to have a bloody app (everyone has a bloody app) to remind you.

And whilst we're on railways, some train companies send your advance ticket as a QR code. All fine & dandy until your phone runs out of battery.

Klarna is another one that solves a problem that doesn't exist, because a credit card is a better solution to what Klarna offers but as charges are regulated, Klarna is 'different' so can charge retailers more.

Apparently car manufacturers are reviewing touch screens in cars because they're more distracting and dangerous than good old knobs and buttons that you can do without looking.

I got caught out a few years back with a digital train ticket. Phone battery was at that stage where it couldn’t ’quite’ go a full day before needing a charge.

I’d used Google maps etc.

Got back to Waterloo with the phone at 3% and (metaphorically) slammed it on the glass looking heavenwards ‘Oh please let me through…’

I’ve reverted back to paper tickets now.

Hello, I have weird shaped ears so need wired headphones so I can pick them up when they fall out! I have found a connector that has two bits on it, one for your phone whilst listening and another for charging (at the same time!) don't buy the cheap ones, they don't last.

Non mechanical switches.
I used to be able to turn a knob on my washing machine to what I wanted (and it usually stayed on that for all washes) then push a button or flick a switch and off it went - now I have a light behind the dial which may or may not move to where I want it, I have to peer down at it and double check what’s selected, then push a button for go but often I haven’t pushed hard enough or slightly missed the lit area and it doesn’t go.

I just want an on off switch - I find the same with hobs - I am pushing ,correcting, fiddling around when all I used to do was turn a dial.

With you all the way OP!

I hate keyless ignition in cars these days. My car key battery keeps seeming to run low and the bloomin car won't start first time, it's so annoying. Plus if my key is in the ignition I know where it is.
I see no benefit to keyless ignition, what is the point?

https://amzn.eu/d/46RBjnt There are iPhone ones as well.

I book seats all the time and have never had to call. I signed up with the access schemes for the major theatre groups and just email any independents to ask and they either tell me how to do it or ask my requirements and book it for me over email.

I love my iPod. Listen to music whilst travelling through iPod. The battery lasts longer than a iPhone. We still want iPods and large capacity MP3 players

Plus I use wired earphones whilst travelling as know people who have lost an earbud.

How is AI answering the questions then?

Digital landlines.

We've not got one yet but havehad letters telling us we will be upgraded soon.

Rang a person to ask to be delayed.
Told them we have very poor mobile signal and want and use a traditional landline and plug a traditional corded phone in during our frequent power cuts.

Went round in circles. Yes most of the time I can make WiFi calls on my mobile. But not in a power cut. Yes power cuts might be rare for you but not us. No I can't just use my mobile in a power cut. At least not without standing at the exact right corner of my.bedroom and waving it out the window. Ok and how am I supposed to ring the emergency services in in a power cut then? No we've talked about mobile service......

I like traditional landlines and I want to keep mine!

School apps for everything. The secondary here uses three different ones.

The homework app (sparx) gives homework out every week for the dc to do. Dsd came to me frequently asking for help with what something meant in maths/science, and swearing they had never done it in class before. We thought she just wasn't paying attention in class. Until we spoke to her teacher who had no idea what the homework was being set... his exact word were 'Oh, they asked her about thermodynamics, we haven't done that yet?'

Ds middle school only has one app thankfully, but whoever is in charge of communication is either a raving loon or incompentant. Multiple messages, every day, very few of which are necessary and couldn't have just waited for newsletter. I wanted to mute it but can't just in case there is ever an actual emergency one day (though the one time there was a serious accident blocking the road outside school there wasn't a message sent out until we were already all home).

The newsletter is pot luck. Sometimes it's linked in the app, sometimes it's emailed out. It's up to you to figure out where it is this week. And since it changed from being on actual paper to digital, the background to the writing sections is now so bright and colourful that it is practically unreadable.

ALS. The system that many companies use to scan CVs when recruiting. It picks up buzz phrases. Then rejects them if not enough of these. Myself and a couple of friends are job hunting at the moment and find we are tweaking our CVs, applying jobs similar to what we have done. Transferable skills don’t get recognised with ALS.

We are still jobless due to the ALS. If CVs were looked by people, they can see potential in some candidates.

Would be interesting to see if ALS is making more new starters leave. If they see an increase in new starters quitting, they should ditch the ALS

We had a very expensive oven which was too clever for its own good, all digital, touch screen with an app, a million settings and preset programmes, self cleaning etc etc. It cooked unevenly and slowly (much worse than our previous 20 year old cheap brand fan oven). I've had endless dealings with the company to no avail. Finally bought a different oven which has actual knobs and cooks properly.

My smart lights are the best thing ever! I can switch them on when I’m miles away from home, they are automated to switch on and off at specific times so I come home to lights on. They slowly wake us in the morning. I can switch them on from bed at a very low level to go to the loo or deal with shouty animals at 3 am. I can dim and brighten and change the colour and mood from my phone both inside and out lights and seperate areas of the home.. bright for kitchen prep and warm and dim in the lounge if there’s a film on. Etc. they are the best thing ever

however.

I am a permanent resident of another country. They used to show this by putting a big sticker in your UK passport. They now don’t do this as everything is digital and all the info is on the biometrics of your passport and accessible to authorities. So nothing visual in my UK passport to show I am a PR of said country.

I was leaving the US to go back to my resident country and the gate agent asked me for my visa as I had a UK passport. I explained I’m a PR and it’s all in the passport. She said ‘I see no sticker’. I explained no stickers. She said without some evidence I could not board the plane. I said ‘it’s all digital’! She looked at me like I was mad and asked again for physical evidence.

thank god I had printed out the visa approval years ago and was in my passport wallet. So instead of the handy sticker I now have to carry around 4 pages of A4 because it’s all ‘digital’. Fuck off!

Don’t get me started on parking apps. When you visit a new town from overseas and have to download an app, with the absolutely shonky phone signal that we have in the U.K. - then the app says “this isn’t available in your area” because the phone is not from the U.K.

Or you’re already parked somewhere and trying to ring the number to pay literally £1 to park and it takes 10’minutes of not recognising the area code.

I feel the rage rising just thinking about it.

You can using a dual split connector.

@CrocsNotDocs There are many USB C cabled headphones. Less open ports reduces the dirt getting inside them.