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I work in tech as a software engineer, and even I resent the assumption that I have a smart phone and want to use it as a single point of failure for absolutely

I work in tech as a software engineer, and even I resent the assumption that I have a smart phone and want to use it as a single point of failure for absolutely everything. Even my local gas company, after switching to paperless billing, now requires me to login to their ridiculous web app, which uses Okta and often gives me problems trying to sign in, just to be able to access my stupid bill. And this ridiculous web app has so many pointless "features" and annoyances. If I want to switch back to being mailed my bill like a normal sane person (yes I'm showing my age) I can't do this online but have to phone them, jump through hoops and pay an outlandish fee. I know paper and mail costs money, but how much did the contractors who built that pointless web app charge? But my bank also seems to be encouraging its customers to do mobile online banking more and more. Which I don't want to do. I do online banking, but I don't like nor trust smart phones enough to want to use it for something as critical as banking. TicketMaster has also switched to mobile tickets by default. Given how uptight most events are about cell phones my wife and I often opt to leave ours at home when attending shows. At least they still allow you to pay for a print ticket (for now). Now get off my lawn.

freetanga 3y ago
The conspiracy theorist in me believes that adding all these pointless features is a government ploy to keep Product Owners employed… /s Really, “You give me electricity,I give you money.” Via Direct Debit. How many menus you need in your web? I log in once every 2 years… why force me to download a crappy app?
cmiles74 3y ago
I recently saw an advertisement for a comedy show that would let you bring your smart phone but required that it be stored in a pouch that prevented use. If you really need it, there would be "stations" available where the pouch could be removed. I assume that once the show ended there would also be a massive line to unlock and remove these pouches. As opposed to, say, a paper ticket and requiring people to leave their phones at home. Is that really such an outlandish request? https://www.overyondr.com/howitworks https://www.overyondr.com/howitworks
- nisegami 3y ago
  >Is that really such an outlandish request? Yes? Do you not see any of the endless ways that could be an instant deal-breaker. Anyone who is relying on ride-share apps to get there or get back; anyone driving who wants to use their phone for navigation (or even someone walking there!) or has to use an app to pay for parking; even people using public transit benefit from being able to look up schedules or get updates. So yes, I do consider it absolutely an outlandish request to require that people leave their phones at home.

freetanga 3y ago

The conspiracy theorist in me believes that adding all these pointless features is a government ploy to keep Product Owners employed… /s Really, “You give me electricity,I give you money.” Via Direct Debit. How many menus you need in your web? I log in once every 2 years… why force me to download a crappy app?

cmiles74 3y ago

I recently saw an advertisement for a comedy show that would let you bring your smart phone but required that it be stored in a pouch that prevented use. If you really need it, there would be "stations" available where the pouch could be removed. I assume that once the show ended there would also be a massive line to unlock and remove these pouches. As opposed to, say, a paper ticket and requiring people to leave their phones at home. Is that really such an outlandish request? https://www.overyondr.com/howitworks https://www.overyondr.com/howitworks

nisegami 3y ago
>Is that really such an outlandish request? Yes? Do you not see any of the endless ways that could be an instant deal-breaker. Anyone who is relying on ride-share apps to get there or get back; anyone driving who wants to use their phone for navigation (or even someone walking there!) or has to use an app to pay for parking; even people using public transit benefit from being able to look up schedules or get updates. So yes, I do consider it absolutely an outlandish request to require that people leave their phones at home.