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I agree with almost all of this list, and what I assume are the motivations for creating it, but it definitely leaves out problematic aspects. Not just the one

I agree with almost all of this list, and what I assume are the motivations for creating it, but it definitely leaves out problematic aspects. Not just the ones you list, but things like: not watching crummy VHS tapes: the decline in ownership and reduction in ability to record / remix media. playing phone tag: now that normal humans have access to broadcast media, the easy to avoid 'holiday slide show' or gossip sessions have become almost impossible to avoid in whatsapp groups, etc. USB cables: Physically different connectors for different functions is a good thing. I have usb cables that can carry data (at I think 4 different speeds), usb cables that can only carry power, usb cables that can fast charge, usb cables that can power delivery charge, usb cables that can carry thunderbolt. I have lots of these cables and I have no idea which are which. I do very much like that some of these cables can act as power and screen and input now, but usb is pretty frustrating. It's great that almost everything charges with the same cable these days - for which I credit the EU rules about phones rather than innovation, (but usb-c vs usb-micro, and even a few hold out usb-minis mean it's still not perfect), and the usb micro cable has been much less reliable than things like the old nokia power jacks, with many of my tablets developing problems with charging and connectivity because of the usb port. search engines: Search engine quality goes in waves. I've definitely had some years where google returned me worse results for my searches than I used to get in the good old days. batteries: the power tools I have with batteries are less powerful, go wrong more often and have to be charged (and never are, because I don't use them enough).

kybernetikos 7y ago
Oh I forgot to mention screens - until the iPhone, you almost never saw someone trying to use a device with a cracked screen. Now a significant proportion of people use a touch screen device with a cracked screen (or cracked screen protector) every day.
Causality1 7y ago
Yeah a lot of this is vastly oversimplified. You didn't have to clean ball mice every week or for most people, ever. VHS being crummy didn't mean we enjoyed it less. Fansub sites today are under constant legal attack by copyright lawyers. Frankly I miss the days when the online racist death threats were posted by xXBoner420Xx to his Xanga page instead of posted on Facebook by Ted Smith from your company's accounting department.
leetcrew 7y ago
> not watching crummy VHS tapes: the decline in ownership and reduction in ability to record / remix media. what do you mean by this exactly? I can agree it's sort of sad that people don't usually own a physical/local copy of whatever movies/music they enjoy, but you can still buy physical copies of most media if you really want. I'm pretty the inflation-adjusted price is lower than it was in the early '00s. you could certainly argue that streaming is so convenient/cheap that it precludes this kind of ownership for most people. the reduction in ability to record/remix media I completely disagree with. the shittiest smartphone camera records better quality video than a good consumer camcorder from the '90s, and you can edit the footage with free software on any computer.
koala_man 7y ago
>speaking of batteries: batteries are built-in—remember how advertisements always had to say “no batteries included”?—so no more mad scrambles at Christmas for AA or AAA batteries to power all the presents I don't like this trend at all. I've thrown out so many perfectly good products because the bespoke built in battery couldn't keep a charge anymore. With good ol' rechargable AA/AAA batteries, you typically get a way higher capacity than the cheap built-in batteries in small electronics, and the product lifespan is years longer.

kybernetikos 7y ago

Oh I forgot to mention screens - until the iPhone, you almost never saw someone trying to use a device with a cracked screen. Now a significant proportion of people use a touch screen device with a cracked screen (or cracked screen protector) every day.

Causality1 7y ago

Yeah a lot of this is vastly oversimplified. You didn't have to clean ball mice every week or for most people, ever. VHS being crummy didn't mean we enjoyed it less. Fansub sites today are under constant legal attack by copyright lawyers. Frankly I miss the days when the online racist death threats were posted by xXBoner420Xx to his Xanga page instead of posted on Facebook by Ted Smith from your company's accounting department.

leetcrew 7y ago

> not watching crummy VHS tapes: the decline in ownership and reduction in ability to record / remix media. what do you mean by this exactly? I can agree it's sort of sad that people don't usually own a physical/local copy of whatever movies/music they enjoy, but you can still buy physical copies of most media if you really want. I'm pretty the inflation-adjusted price is lower than it was in the early '00s. you could certainly argue that streaming is so convenient/cheap that it precludes this kind of ownership for most people. the reduction in ability to record/remix media I completely disagree with. the shittiest smartphone camera records better quality video than a good consumer camcorder from the '90s, and you can edit the footage with free software on any computer.

koala_man 7y ago

>speaking of batteries: batteries are built-in—remember how advertisements always had to say “no batteries included”?—so no more mad scrambles at Christmas for AA or AAA batteries to power all the presents I don't like this trend at all. I've thrown out so many perfectly good products because the bespoke built in battery couldn't keep a charge anymore. With good ol' rechargable AA/AAA batteries, you typically get a way higher capacity than the cheap built-in batteries in small electronics, and the product lifespan is years longer.