The relentless encroachment of 'tech' on our lives

[oddoneout]

Love it! About 70 years before its time!

In the meantime the wretched business continues. I'm interested in buying a railcard - though trying to work out whether it will be worthwhile, or indeed whether I'll last three years to justify a longer one. Seems that perhaps the old style card ones are still available, but now of course there are the digital ones which require one to have a mobile phone. I love my mobile phone so much that if it weren't for one or two almost essential features which I have to use sometimes, I'd happily drop it in a lake or smash it to smithereens.

How many people realise that by using these things it allows so many organisations not only to track purchases, emails etc., but also one's physical location? We shoud not be "forced" to have to have devices to track ourselves, even if we do so "voluntarily" because it's "convenient".

I had a bit of a panic earlier this year when thinking about renewing my railcard as there seemed to be some likelihood of me being able to use it again when I read various comments from folk saying they had only been able to have a digital version. I only have a dumbphone so wouldn't be able to use that version. Turns out there is still a choice, but you can only have one or the other, not both.
This has reminded me that I need to tick this job off the list - don't want to find they've decided to up the 3 year rate - it's been the same for a good while now - since I no longer have any Tesco rewards left to use for a "free" 1 year version.

[ahinton]

I had one like that - indeed still do - but the screen failed a year or more back. It is still possible to get phones with very basic features, but nowadays that limits what one can do - such as banking - as many bank offices have closed so one "has" to do online banking, and many are now using OTP codes sent via mobile phones which are capable of receiving them. Actually my older phone was able to receive OTP codes, but it got to the point that I couldn't read them anyway, plus the nonsense of living in an area where reception is poor, so by the time I'd got the OTP deciphered then the security check had timed out!

Unlike many people I still turn my mobile phone off unless I really have to use it. It irritates me that it takes so long to "warm up", and that it always goes online even if I only want to use if for its local features, such as the camera. Of course the slow warm up might well be deliberate, to "force" me to leave it on, so that I can be tracked.

I can probably also be personally tracked as "that guy who turns his phone on for five minutes, then turns it off again"!

I've done online banking for years and find it very useful but always from a desktop. My bank has just changed its IT systems and is trying to encourage clients to use their phones and I can't log on from my desktop right now because of a technical issue that might appear to have its origins in lack of due consideration for those who want to continue using the computer for this; I trust that it will shortly be resolved.

[ardcarp]

I've had many niggles with Lloyds over the years (including a recent one about a branch near here that DOESN'T ACCEPT CASH. A bank???)
However, for both a desktop computer and for an iPhone I think their banking online sites are very good, easy to use and easy to understand...even for a cyber-idiot like me.

[teamsaint]

I use First Direct, and only use their phone system, not their online banking. Easy and pleasant , and seems to serve all my needs, simple though these are.
And they have cheery Yorkshire and Scottish persons to chat to…