Elon is always obsessed with WeChat’s model. (For those who don’t know about WeChat, it is basically the name of the ‘Everything app’.)
Everything in one single point is pretty convenient but has led to a bunch of risks…
Leave a risk that you know in the comment.
That’s my point tho. I get it that technology can be complicated and not everyone can, wants or needs to learn everything relevant about it.
But the way it works out at the end, is that someone figures out to solve some truly trivial problem, and in the process siphons all your data and choices away.
Oh no, I can’t figure out the 3 buttons on a music player. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate listen to all your conversations on an off chance that you want to play a piece of music.
Oh no, I need to raise my hand to turn on the lights. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate control everything in your house via an online service they control and can shut down on a whim.
Oh no, I’m clumsy and keep losing an essential thing. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate go through all your purchases and identity at all times.
Oh no, my phone has like, 6 buttons. That’s too much for lil ol’ me! Solution: Have two multibillion conglomerates dictate you how to use your tech, which at the end becomes just as complicated yet dumber and 6x as expensive than what we had 15 years ago.
I dunno, at what point is the solution not worth that tiny inconvenience?
You can like, put your payment card in your phone’s case. Heck you can even put bank notes in there.
But there are private and open source alternatives to these things. Home Assistant is the way to go for home automation, same with Apple’s HomeKit (all local communication via your network only)
There are alternatives for almost everything, but most people just want to buy a new shiny thing with the biggest brand name, and click click click agree to everything.
True, we’ve gotta be the ones to push friends and family to fight that
Yeah, this is just stupid, I agree. I mean, I wouldn’t ever use smart devices in my home. Not just because corps gathering data, but because I truly believe this just makes you lazy… well, at least me. And there is nothing worse than being lazy. Everyone is, from time to time, so am I, but getting out of that circle sooner rather than later is what matters, and smart devices just make the process a lot harder IMO.
I wouldn’t say I’m clumsy, I’ve never forgotten my plastic before I had a kid. There are just a lot more obligations and as I said, he thinks the world of me, he’s litelarly glued to me, and the constant questions are distracting, especially when juggling with 3, 4 other things, keeping an eye on him on top, and… well, it just happens 🤷.
It’s not tiny if I have to wait 3 days for the bank to issue me a new plastic, and you rarely have cash in you. I mean, who deals with cash nowadays anyway.
That is an option that another user mentioned and yes, this hasn’t occured to me before, so thank you as well for the suggestion 👍. Will look into finding a case that maybe has room for a card or two in the phone 😉.
So happy end then. But you see my point, sometimes the solution to not give in to the hungry corporations can even be really simple. But the advertisements can drown out everything.
I actually don’t give in that easy. I could have used Google Pay a lot earlier, like years ago. But I didn’t. I even dealt with cash only for the longest time, until some stores just stopped accepting cash 🤷.