r/askanything

I am thinking of picking her up at her place, making an excuse to use the bathroom and looking for mail by the front door.

*moans* Oh, Occupant or Current Resident, you are so beautiful.

Notes?

Concerts and sporting events, no longer use paper tickets. Everything HAS to be on your phone now.

We recently visited a park in Portland, it took us 30 minutes to pay for parking, because you could ONLY do it through an App. In Park City, we couldn't park at all, because it was the same.

We were transiting through Texas and couldn't even order food, because you could only order by scanning a QR code.

I was watching a vlog on Norway. You need an app to be able to rent a fucking bicycle.

Extra documents and forms for international travel, must be stored on your phone.

You now NEED to have Whatsapp, if you wanna communicate with a local tour operator.

We had to get scammed by a street taxi in Georgia, because we couldn't order an Uber without the fucking app.

Then we have countries like Norway and Estonia that have gone virtually cashless. Some national parks and sports/concert venues have also gone cashless. Even on some airplanes now, you can't purchase items if you don't have Apple Pay.

Not everyone feel comfortable using their credit/debit card. Also, not everyone uses a smartphone or has an international data plan. Even if they do, technology often malfunctions. I've had many ocassions where people couldn't come into the park, because or CC machines were down and they didn't have cash.

I see how it can be easier if you're the one recieving payment. But if you're the CUSTOMER, it's a pain in the ass honestly. And if you don't have a smartphone or international data plan, you're pretty much fucked. Like my mom for instance, her phone is simple and she's too old to learn all this fancy stuff, so I always have to keep her stuff on MY phone.

This stuff should be optional. If you wanna do it, great! But people who still wanna go oldschool, should be able to.

Then they can safely reuse the water and properly contain contaminants from the treatment process.

MS NOW

So I suddenly got curious about this after scrolling through reddit as one does and posed this question to google gemini. I expected bots to have an impact but Reality Apathy is a word that really put to term something I felt but didn't know how to explain. It also drew my mind to the growing nativist and isolationist movement spearheaded by the likes of JD Vance but which has points supported even on the political left. It got me wondering if that was the point of it all, to exhaust Americans enough that they turn their back on the world rather than having to confront the US directly.

What are your thoughts on this and Americans, how do you feel about all the negativity directed towards you &/or the country?

I've been trying to curb my social media and it keeps dragging me back down. I delete and restart accounts every few months just to disrupt the algorithms.

I'm strongly considering a dumb phone, just for calling and texting etc. Then I started thinking, at that point do I even NEED a phone at all?

I'm old school GenX. I didn't get a cell phone until my late 30s. I don't talk to people on the phone unless I absolutely have to. I text my wife, she'd be annoyed if I cut that line of communication, but I could get a couple meshtastic devices and text back and forth with just her.

What would be the consequences of not having a phone/phone number today?

I mean with ai accelerating science and the billionaires who don't want to die pouring funds into the research...