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

This!!!

Presidential democracy in the US.
May as well have kept to a monarchy, as after all their efforts they've ended up with a bonkers Henry VIII + sycophantic courtiers situation.
At least with a monarchy you can make sure they get a good education.

Mine has a special fast boil function that is very easy to activate if you swipe it by accident, for example if you’re cleaning up a water spill.

Guess how I know.

It’s all done by companies protecting themselves by creating a situation where they can ensure a consistent profit stream.
When we bought our first flat, we paid a quarterly charge for the landline.
The cost of that, four times a year, was just over the minimum monthly charge for a mobile phone subscription (and the phones weren’t even smart!)
Now, everyone seems to be at it: we used to receive our electricity bill quarterly and pay it - now we have to pay by standing-order-type payments - meaning that each summer, they are getting interest on our money that we have overpayed!
The same goes for printer ink - a pricey subscription to “ensure we received our replacement cartridges in good time” meant that because we weren’t printing very much, we paid 8 or 9 times more than we would have if we’d just bought these when they were running out.
Soon, you won’t be able to buy a car outright, and household appliances are next on the list… the “smart” feature that they won’t tell you about will, of course, be that they can disable your car/appliance if they think you have had it for long enough or used it enough.
Even when legislation is introduced to prevent waste (E.g. the insistence that all chargers be made with the UsbC connector) the manufacturers will always exploit the wording of that legislation to their advantage, such as when I bought my new iPhone to find that the charger was Fire wire to UsbC, meaning that the new power sockets I’d recently installed with USB ports so I didn’t need a plug for charging, were now useless without an adaptor…
It’s all about profit, and taking as much money from the consumer as possible now, but I can’t see it changing - Pandora’s box is well and truly cleaned out!

Self check at supermarkets.
Made stealing easy -> we are all paying higher prices
Also, it’s not always quicker. Often someone is sat there for a long time because they don’t know what they are doing, they are waiting for staff member or the machine is not working properly.

Toilets - the ones with the high tank and a chain flush better and break less than anything invented subsequently, with their plasticky little buttons and feeble cistern parts. It's been a three stage journey to toilet hell- chains (good), handles (not as good but ok), flush buttons (why?).

Yeah but you get a signal every time it cuts in and out, too. Maddening.

I JUST WANT TO PARK MY FUCKING CAR!
How I long for the days when I could pop to town, put my 50p in the machine and off I go.

I do like the ANPR ones where you pay when you leave - no worrying about whether you've missed the small print saying "£1 / hr except if you've arrived between 1pm and 3pm on the second Thursday of months which end in a Y, and then it's £2"

Queuing at the bar. I mean wtf!
Just walk up to the bar, a good bar keep will know who's next.

I've finally accepted orders food via app (pubs only)
But those that use the app to order ONE DRINK to be table served by staff give me the rage, especially big groups ordering one drink each, ggggrrrr.

Tbf, covid robbed a whole group oof newly 18yr old the chance to figure out how to use a pub properly!
Buy a round ya muppets (preferably ordered at the bar!)

Mine too , have you seen the headband type headphones? Have been looking into them for a while now because I cannot put anything into my ears because they are too small to fit anything else and they are good for wearing to bed apparently ( I like to to listen to stories to sleep ) sad I know 🙄 😆

Yes! I do get why it is needed but wow it is a PITA

I lost my phone a few weeks ago, I couldn't get into anything, bank/ nursery payment/ revenue etc. I contacted Vodafone ordered a new phone and at the end when everything was agreed he said he needed the 6 digit code he had just texted me to confirm...... I had lost the phone, which he knew!!

Got it sorted, got a new phone, found the old one down the back of the toddlers drawers

Sorry , wrong thread

Yes, you can get ones that allow you to charge and listen at the same time

Scanning a QR code instead of talking to a waitress.
Self-checkout.
Having to log on to the GP website and submit a form at exactly 8am instead of calling and organising an appointment.
Sweets available everywhere and marketed at your kids wherever you go, all the time.
Needing to set up an "account" for EVERYTHING and trying to remember all the passwords.
Having 400 different subscriptions for various TV services and things and all of them going up in price every other week.

I highly recommend the hand band head phones.

I've got one and can confirm they are great (if you don't mind your hair being a mess!)

Never had any headphones that have been comfortable before.

I love parking apps... in theory. I never have coins, I hate queuing to use the machine so a parking app should be my nirvana.

But they infuriate me becuase, for a start, they are MORE expensive often. Why? To park at school, it's 20p if you use the machine, and 80p if you use the app. Why? It should be CHEAPER?

And then there's the fact that reception in these places is so often shit. So I want to pay by app... but I have to waituntil I have signal and the reality is that sometimes I then forget, because I'm wrangling children and shopping and all the rest.

Leave the adapter (3.5mm jack to usb c) attached to the headphones, wired ones with no flashing light.

Or buy usb c wired headphones.

Wouldn’t mind the parking app if it was the same one everywhere. Each town you visit seems to have a different one grrrrrrr

I don’t mind messy hair especially if it means I could wear something comfortable while listening to my stories , do you have any recommendations or are they all pretty much the same ? Thanks for the reply it’s swayed me even more .

When we moved in to our place a few years back these "smart appliances" were being peddled at us.
I said to DH, a washing machine is only smart if it can load and unload washing, same for a dishwasher and a tumbler dryer imo. We got dumb appliances.

Phone irritate me generally. I have an old Samsung, so long as I can read MN and plug in my old school earphones who cares!

However I confess to having a robot hoover. That does genuinely help!

@TheeNotoriousPIG what does this relate to please? I’m so intrigued about the ‘very difficult to tell anyone where I'd been at the weekend!’ line. Please put me out of my misery, I can’t figure it out!

The Android Emergency SOS function has to be the stupidest feature ever added to mobile phones.

Press the side button five times and it automatically calls the emergency services. The first I knew of it was when my phone went off like an air raid siren in my pocket - while I was driving - because they enabled it by default and didn't tell anybody about it. In fact you can't disable it, I've set it to ring my own number so all it will do is get an engaged tone rather than accidentally block a genuine 999 call.

Thankyou ! I’m even more keen now , a little confused because there are so many to chose from thanks for reply .

I can only manage the kind of earbuds you hook around your ear. I use those at the gym but headphones everywhere else.