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It's not about keeping you addicted to phones, it's about being able to change prices instantly. If it's in a printed catalog, they would have to honor that price. If it's not, they can change the price 30 times a day based on demand.
I came here to say this. That's the nefarious reason, not keeping people addicted to smart phones, LOL
WELL, that is one of the things that burned me from TV, destroyed a many decades watching addiction to where I am now.
The TV Guides got to point that during the daytime, all they said was "Various Programming" for the entire week. Long story short of it (for there were other reasons, too), I got the message that if you weren't watching prime time, YOU WERE NOBODY!.......treat me like that and I'll go away.
Like I said, treat me like that, and I'll go away.
Something like that. That is, you trust the world we are in to always deliver what you need, what you want, especially that which you have nothing to show that you actually own it? Good grief, I thought we learned the folly of that back in the Crash of 1929.
On a similar note, over on the desk, I have one of the 4 books I have on the Israeli raid at Entebbe. When that subject was a major part of my research, assaults on hostage compounds, I couldn't find anything on it on the Net except barely more than a footnote here and there. So afterwards, I decided to have book references around to major issues of importance to me. For one of the problems on depending on the Net for all your knowledge is......so much of it is opinion and not fact.
Finally, Kindle and computer screen reading is the beast to me. I don't read it as efficiently as I might paper. Maybe it is the blue light, maybe it is how other electrons play on the screen, but for a photographic memory to the paper, it is a struggle to the screen.......to say nothing of what Giles said.Jenny Calendar: Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?
Giles: The smell.
Jenny: Computers don't smell, Rupert.
Giles: Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a-a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences... long forgotten. Books smell... musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a... it, uh, it has no-no texture, no-no context. It's-it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible. It should be, uh, smelly.(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "I, Robot....you Jane", from imdb)
Just a fictional quote so perhaps meaningless but on the other hand.....as we try to keep our minds as we age...........
Local TV programming was and is very mutable, and changes a lot. No widely distributed TV guide could accurately capture all the affiliate programming over a wide area.
Local TV programming was and is very mutable, and changes a lot. No widely distributed TV guide could accurately capture all the affiliate programming over a wide area.
Regarding the rest...wut?!
It wasn't the widely distributed TV guide......it was the Sunday guide in the Austin newspaper!
As to the rest of it, tell me what you didn't understand and I will try to explain it.
That started becoming a thing during COVID so that there would be no contact, but where I encountered it (and tried to use the QR code and sometimes it didn't work), you could ask for a physical menu and get one.
Now most places seem to be back to physical menus. My aversion to digital menus is not technology. It's readability. It's awkward to read a menu on a tiny screen. Some things just work better in the real world.
We went to one restaurant toward the end of Covid that had virtual menus only, and we hated it. Apparently everyone hated it, because we heard others asking for paper menus, and it wasn't long before they were brought back.
There are things that are easily accessed on a smartphone and there are things that are not. A large menu is not. People like to look back and forth from one section to another when deciding on their food and drinks, and you just can't see enough at once on a phone screen.
Than happened to us at a city brewpub.
Not only were the menus exclusively QR, there was no staff to take your order. Everything had to be done on the phone.
And the place was packed.
We got there early for dinner and they had a long line of people waiting for tables... on a Wednesday.
It is very popular.
DH and I decided we won't be back, mainly because the food was average at best (we don't drink beer; we were there because our son and his wife do and they wanted to try some). The lack of menu and staff reinforce that.
Had an Identical experience here in TN. Apparently the brewpub changed their beer selections so frequently that they didn't print a physical beer menu. The alternative to the QR code was to stand up and walk to read a large chalkboard over the bar.
I recently got a Walmart toy catalog/flyer in the mail. No prices listed. For that info, you're supposed to "scan (a QR code) and shop." I swear they want us all addicted to the phones!
They don't care about the phone. That allows them to change prices (no advertised price to compare with) and it gets you on their website ready to order. Just click and spend money. And here are some other suggested items. Basically, the virtual equivalent of having common items at opposite sides of the store to get you to impulse buy other things while walking back and forth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
That started becoming a thing during COVID so that there would be no contact, but where I encountered it (and tried to use the QR code and sometimes it didn't work), you could ask for a physical menu and get one.
Now most places seem to be back to physical menus. My aversion to digital menus is not technology. It's readability. It's awkward to read a menu on a tiny screen. Some things just work better in the real world.
I agree there. Time and eyeballs eventually favor larger print.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rokuremote
Local TV programming was and is very mutable, and changes a lot. No widely distributed TV guide could accurately capture all the affiliate programming over a wide area.
Yet way back then, they were fairly accurate. Now I half the time I go to a channel's website, and it only lists what's immediately coming up; half the time just generic statements.
Had an Identical experience here in TN. Apparently the brewpub changed their beer selections so frequently that they didn't print a physical beer menu. The alternative to the QR code was to stand up and walk to read a large chalkboard over the bar.
Reading a large chalkboard over the bar would work fine for me as an alternative to not having a physical menu.
If you were living tech-free, you couldn't have posted your message here on a web site.
Also, I don't see the asserted connection to "modern urban leftist beliefs."
I'm a leftist and I live in a city... but I like traditional books, and certainly
would rather have music and videos in my possession (albeit as
digital files) rather than be dependent on some 'streaming' service.
And, if I didn't live in an exceptionally walkable and transit-rich city (SF),
I'd probably have to buy a car.
Long ago, I would've been called an 'early adopter' -- because I was chatting online
even before there was AOL. Today, I'd surely be considered a Luddite or a troglodyte,
because I don't have a smart phone. I find them unappealing -- too big to fit in a
a front pocket, no physical buttons. But the more disturbing thing is the way
many people seem to let their phone control their lives -- every time it beeps or vibrates,
they stop what they're doing and look at it. In this context, has the term
"attention span'' lost its meaning?
And yet, probably the time is not far off when owning a smart phone will be more-or-less
mandatory (even though not legally required).
Case in point:
I think the explanation is a bit different -- they either assume "everyone"
has a smart phone now, or simply don't care about anyone who doesn't.
And would you believe: I recently went to a restaurant
that had no physical menus! There were QR code images
pasted onto each table, for diners to scan, then see the menu
(and select what to order) on their phones.
Internet was available by 1995 and personal computers starting about 1980. (The first time I used a PC was in 1983; my boss gave me a manual and said, "Learn it" and I had to install the programming disks myself -- but that was when I was 30 and not an old lady yet.) I owned a microwave starting in 1971 and "always" had a phone. I have all major appliances, but not "smart" ones. And a DVD player, a CD player, and a television, and about 600 DVDs and not as many CDs. And, yes, obviously, these were all available by the end of the 20th century -- so when I said I am living in the 20th century -- I meant 20th century technology and the way I believe that most people thought in the 20th century.
By modern leftist beliefs, I meant the idea that people are either "forced" to say that they will support such ideas, or that they might suffer some consequences. To give just one example -- the idea that children can choose their sex and gender, and that if people who want to foster children through in the state system in some states, that they must affirm that they will support any children they foster if they decide to change their sex or gender. Of course, they are NOT forced to do so, but only if they want to foster. They can always say No, but that might mean that some kids will remain in a group home instead of with a family -- but, of course, I know that many people say that is perfectly okay (and with some foster homes -- yes, it might be better).
But, again, I was surprised that this thread has become so "divisive" (and even insulting and snarky in a few cases), although I did suspect it might -- and that is why I specified, "for my fellow Luddites" in the thread title because I was interested in seeing if my fellow dinosaurs were encountering more and more problems because they had not joined the 21st century regarding smartphones or anything else. Here in rural Wisconsin, I have not yet encountered very much difficulty, but I was starting to encounter some minor problems until we moved here from Denver three years ago.
Last edited by katharsis; 10-19-2023 at 09:17 AM..
When I lived rural I really didn't need any of it.
But once I moved back to the city life...it makes life so much more convenient.
My phone has become my radio, map, store weekly sales flyer, wallet, calculator, and so much more.
Membership cards are gone as they provide digital copies which I can keep in my Apple wallet.
I go into HD and use their app to find what I'm looking for..Aisle/Bin and then the self checkout
I really only need to deal with employees to cut wood/mix paint, order an appliance.
When I lived rural I really didn't need any of it.
But once I moved back to the city life...it makes life so much more convenient.
My phone has become my radio, map, store weekly sales flyer, wallet, calculator, and so much more.
Membership cards are gone as they provide digital copies which I can keep in my Apple wallet.
I go into HD and use their app to find what I'm looking for..Aisle/Bin and then the self checkout
I really only need to deal with employees to cut wood/mix paint, order an appliance.
It's the same for me living not rural, nor in a large city but in a small town. I can order groceries, do banking and pay bills. I can look for fast food specials, watch city counsel meetings, see what services are available locally, read the newspaper, check the weather. I really appreciate being able to buy almost anything from different parts of the world from Amazon and add to my hobbies by using Ebay.
When everything is said and done, I probably still only use 10% of what my iPhone is able to do for me if that. I tend to learn and use things as I need.
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