Didn't want to cut across this thread...: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/my-parents-keep-cocking-up-2fa/
...but bugger my old boots, isn't everything a hassle these days? It seems like we have a million memberships and service plans and apps these days just to get through daily life, and every time you (well, I) need to do something, I need to find my username and password, update the app version, cross-verify the 2FA from my phone, resend the code because the battery died, enable cookies and unsolicited texts, ask my mother-in-law to remind me what her favourite tree as a kid was, update my preferences, obtain a new quote, get the new account T&Cs, re-enter my payment card details, update the email address because I have two accounts for work...
...but I suppose it's nice to not have to worry about dying from leprosy or dragon attacks, so modern life isn't all bad.
I do feel we're at a technology for its own sake. I think there's a wall of bright, keen, over confident geeks who can build shiny things - but the shiny things turn out to be a bit hollow, or stop working, or a drain on my life.
I would say the same for a lot of big business and products though.
I went on a bike ride with my 9 and 6 yr old daughters today (6 yr old on the back of a tandem) which in itself was great.
But...we rode past a national trust cafe and I fancied (nay, craved!) a cream tea. No cash though, but thank the clotted cream gods for contactless payment that then works even in the back end of beyond. Nom.
I often feel like that and wonder if I'm some sort of Luddite.
I like things that improve or simplify my life. Somehow in some cases it's become overcomplicated and defeated the intention.
On balance I think modern life is great.
My first car loan involved a face to face interview with the bank manager. Making payments meant writing cheques and posting them. Getting cash meant going to the bank counter. Now online loans. Cash machines everywhere. Banking Apps for most payments.
Paper maps and A-Z books for nav. Now a satnav in your pocket.
Cars- Back then my first car - Fiat 127 - regularly failed to start, The fix often meant fiddling with the distributer or taking the plugs out to re-gap them. The windscreen washer was a rubber bulb you pressed. Modern cars - faster, more reliable, more comfortable.
When I was at primary school we had steel framed single glazed windows. Freezing in winter. Modern double glazing and CH is far better.
TV - BBC 1 and 2 and STV. Started broadasting around 3pm and shut down at midnight with the national anthem.
Flying anywhere cost an arm and a leg.
When the modern NHS works well it is great. This year my wife had sudden new back symptoms. Went from same day appt to hospital an MRI scan. See by orthopaedic and neorology consultants and an operation on the discs compressing her spinal cord 6 days after seeing her GP.
Bikes. My 70s 10 speed tourer had 8 gears allowing for duplicates. Lowest gear was 40x28. I prefer my 3x9 bikie with a 22x36 bottom gear.
You used to phone a place not a person. Mobiles are better.
Modern Life is Rubbish is a great album though….
Pretty ace I’d say.
Modern life is quite frankly amazing, so many things have changed for the better in my lifetime 😎
It's the IT providers versus the criminal hackers. As each new security system becomes obsolete when the fraudsters find a hack the providers have to up the security. To the point the user can no longer use it. We needed to pay a hotel over the Summer and failed to do it using all the hi-tech on our phones which in theory gave us multiple payment systems from two different banks. We knew all the passwords, got through the verifications and at the end the servive "wasn't available". We got in a taxi and paid in person in cash. It's all very fragile.
As a 63-year-old who has used tech throughout my life I'm growing tech allergic. Some things just work, fine. Some are a bit clunky, and some are just an utter pain in the butt. To the point I can't be arsed. AirB&B, **** that. Things I can live without that require a monthly payment, no ta.
Will I ever buy another new car? The current one is at about the limit of what I'm prepared to put up with and possible replacements have been rejected at the point I've asked "does this thing work without a phone?" and it turns out that many things don't.
I looked at IRCs post and thoughtjust the opposite for each point.
I really see little in modern life that is really better than it was 40 years ago. Sure we live longer but is that good? Otherwise it's just a matter of standards. My nan was 60 before she had a phone at home and my grandad didn't want it then. Why would he? There was a perfectly good phone box half a mile down the road.
3 telly stations. meh, we played in the woods.
Perople everywhere you go, usually telling you you are wrong.
Bikes: my current 1x12 Zesty AM is ace. But do I enjoy riding it anymore than my 70s 24/46x14-28 roughstuff tourer? Not really.
Cars: the Zoé is objectively better in every respect than my 1380cc Cooper S or Group N Samba Rally. But given a closed road which would you rather drive?
Music technology peaked in 1973 IMO. No way will you get me to "upgrade" my Telecaster and 100W valve marshal. Juniors last six albums have been released on vinyl because that's what the fans like.
And if someone took this computer off me I think I might get more out of life.
In terms of relationships my phone is a curse, some people are utter arseholes when not face to face. Madame is a teacher and cyber bullying creates a whole load of misseries in addition to the traditional misseries that haven't gone away.
Are we happier? If I am it's got **** all to do with tech, it's just that I've developed a tech immune system that copes quite well and keeps my body and mind healthy despite the cyber attacks.
As for the planet modern life will turn it into an unihabitable greenhoused mess for the majority, congratulations all of us.
Modern cars are technically so much better. My instant car was a 1977 VW Golf Mk1. My current car is a 2018 Golf Mk 7.5.
The current car is so much more comfortable, much safer both structurally and dynamically, has four times the power but twice the weight yet uses 30% less fuel
I concluded recently that a lot of my own stress was moaning and complaining about things I couldn’t change, so living a simple life within our own 4 walls and a humble acceptance of the outside universes direction is where we are at.
^^^ very much this.
I have said for some time now that I really dislike the world I’m forced to live in.
Workwise - as a colouring-in professional I really don’t miss spending hours on end in a darkroom, hand paste-up and film planning. My Mac is far superior and far more productive.
Cars - I far prefer older cars - my newest is from 2007. New are dull and boring to me.
Streaming - streaming TV and music gives me way more options than I ever had before.
Social Media - I don’t really mind it. Limit your ‘likes’ and block out the shit.
Banking - don’t mind the old ways easy to do as banks were everywhere, but new ways are the only choice we have and it’s not going back.
Mobile Phones - you can still choose to answer or not. You don’t have to answer - and we get a heads-up who’s calling now, not like in the 70’s! I don’t care if someone is upset because I’ve chosen to ignore their call.
I’ll think of some more in a bit! 🤣
Despite my initial moaning, I do think that things have improved for most people - some more than others.
As for the planet modern life will turn it into an unihabitable greenhoused mess for the majority, congratulations all of us.
There's still a fair chance we will mess it all up for everyone, BUT for the poorest in the world, things have radically got better in the last 20 years. Access to clean water, proper sanitation, education, electricity, food, basic vaccinations, contraception have all got much better for literally billions of people.
Comparing with my date of birth/
Clean water - 75% of the population have access which means 2 billion don't. More than in 1960 when the population was 3 billion. Ditto sanitation, education, electricity... .
The increasing population has so far neutralised any gains so more rather than fewer people are suffereing.
There is some daft tech - so many things that don’t need to be ‘smart’ are now offered: smart toothbrush! smart toaster! I can do without chatgpt as well.
So much is better though. My bike is incredible. My tv is excellent. My house is warm and comfortable (no ice inside the windows in winter like when I was a kid). I have a fab espresso machine and will never have to taste Maxwell House again. My diet is varied and cheap - I can get food from all over the world at my local supermarket - no more tinned vegetables, and fresh tomatoes all year round.
A few years back I lived a very transient lifestyle, so I got rid of all my books, DVDs, CDs and records. It doesn’t matter as I have an iPad and have access to just about everything ever written or recorded. And I have speakers all over the house so I can listen anywhere. They weren’t expensive speakers, but better than anything available to all but hi-fi buffs a generation ago.
I usually choose to holiday in the uk, but if I wanted to I could go anywhere in the world in a few hours.
I live a life of comfort and luxury that would have been available to only the wealthiest not so long ago. The only thing that gets me is that Back to the Future said we’d have hoverboards by now, but those lazy scientists have failed to deliver.
I think anyone who is around 50year old like me has the best of both worlds
One foot in the analogue era;
being able to fix things and understand mechanicals items, had Meccano/Lego/bikes helping dad's fix shit cars etc
But also one foot in the digital era;
had the first home computers/spectrums/C64 etc
Nowadays I'm quite happy fixing the car's brakes as I am plugging into its Canbus systems whilst buying parts for it from Germany online via my phone.
The increasing population has so far neutralised any gains...
A bubble of population increase is itself evidence of the improvement in material conditions!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition
I would totally agree with the whole things are better now if I was a 53 yr old island - I can cope with both analogue and digital, opt in and out plus if we all die in a nuclear or man made climate apocolpse then..well I've had a great life.
But i've got a couple of kids and quite frankly compared to my life they have had an absolutely shite time of it and it doesn't look like a great future ahead of them. Social media and big tech have hobbled them, the pandemic and conservative ******** have reduced their horizons - University is a ball and chain these days, home ownership a fantasy and even travel is 100x harder - jeez I even travelled to Afghanistan overland, try doing that now.
So whilst I'd like to be positive.......
I don't understand why people say they are always too busy and short of time these days - everything you do is a choice so if you want to rush around then that's down to you. You can also choose to live slow, choose not to need a coffee in your hand everywhere you walk, choose not to answer phones or look at messages, but no everyone's too busy to take time to change.
Anyhow next week I will go for a ride somewhere I've never been before I can plan a route that will avoid main roads, I can find out which cafe is best to stop at, and I can navigate my way around this new place with confidence and MrsP will be able to see exactly where I am while I'm doing it. Maybe it's not as exciting as the olden days of stopping to look at a map every few miles, getting lost and finding yourself on a busy A road but I'll call it progress.
" Maybe it’s not as exciting as the olden days of stopping to look at a map every few miles, getting lost and finding yourself on a busy A road but I’ll call it progress. "
I sort of miss navigating with paper maps. My first couple of tours in the USA I had no phone with me. While I had detailed cycling maps for part of it long stretches were using state level maps. So a dot marked on the map could be anything from a cluster of houses with no services at all to a small town with a bar, shop, and diner. The American habit of "city" being anything from New York to a cluster of streets didn't help. Gilman City (pop 380) for example.
Security vs ease of use is always going to be a compromise. We've had years of security being an afterthought, now we're waking up to the idea of "hey, maybe we should think about this stuff?" and in some places we've overcompensated. Like as per the thread the OP quoted, MFA has been a game-changer but I don't need it when I'm buying a Mars Bar.
Are we over-reliant? I think part of the issue is that the rest of the 1st World needs to catch up. The amount of times when I was moving house I had to say to the solicitor, "stop stuffing bits of paper in envelopes. It adds days to the process and means I lose a reliable audit trail. I had to send them a paper document (because digital signatures don't exist) and thought "I'll save a day, drive over and pop it through their letterbox. Turned out, it's a different branch which processes documents so they to had to post it to a neighbouring town to (*$*%*&^$!!!) scan in and then mail back to them. It's utterly backwards, they're going to shit themselves when they hear about fax machines.
I think anyone who is around 50year old like me has the best of both worlds
Same here.
Will I ever buy another new car? The current one is at about the limit of what I’m prepared to put up with
I'm early 30s and feel the same. Every time I get in, there's about 7 different things I do to turn off or change the mode of various things to make it behave the way I prefer it - it doesn't even remember how I left it.
it doesn’t even remember how I left it.
There's a lot of this and it's really irritating.
Eg, the Hyundai I had once had an auto-brake hold. You put your foot on the brake and it holds the car still when you lift off again, making hillstarts trivial. But it disabled itself once you'd parked up and locked up the car. On what planet is a mandatory default behaviour of "roll backwards on a hill" preferable to "staying put," doubly so when you expect it to be there. Madness.
The current Seat has user profiles attached to each key. Brilliant idea except... it doesn't actually do anything much. It says "hello, [name]" when you get in and it remembers one of three dashboard 'themes' (round clocks, square clocks or one big one). It has no bearing on useful things like say radio presets or even what you were listening to last, or which mobile phone it pairs with.
Ace: Currently sat in the middle of the ocean, sending this message from a slab of glass and electronics, via magic moonbeams to a thing in space that that forwards it on to more electronic gadetry. And I'm not dying of scurvy.
Rubbish: Even in the middle of the ocean I get stupid messages from my parents.
But i’ve got a couple of kids and quite frankly compared to my life they have had an absolutely shite time of it and it doesn’t look like a great future ahead of them. Social media and big tech have hobbled them, the pandemic and conservative ******** have reduced their horizons – University is a ball and chain these days, home ownership a fantasy and even travel is 100x harder – jeez I even travelled to Afghanistan overland, try doing that now.
Really? I remember being told that as a 70’s child I’d be growing up in a world of Thatcher, the Falkland’s war, high interest rates, water shortages, limited employment and a tough life living in a remote village, it worked out OK. Re tech, I remember programming the VHS for my parents when overnight TV started, no different from my son optimising my iPhone for me. I think we see it as limited, but they will adapt and grow like we did, and hopefully solve some of the problems ours and previous generations have caused.
BTW, I’m reading the Derren Brown booked recommended in the stoic thread, it’s very good and addresses this through stoicism and philosophy; stop chasing the oft advertised “dream” and let life come to you whilst resolving personal issues you encounter along the way to relieve any boredom. Much less stress and more fulfilling described as living a less frustrating life between boredom and challenges you can’t resolve.
it has a great summary which caused me to put the book down in surprise and think - imagine you had to Re-live your same life over and over again in ever repeating cycles. Would you do what you doing right now (whatever that is, this second, minute, hour or day).
I think my mum summed up modern life quite well, something like (*she was from the shared washroom, mangle, washboard etc etc era)
“The more labour saving devices people get the less time they have and the less they help each other”
To me, this thread is the perfect commentary on the UK ‘glass half empty’ view of many things (assuming most of us are residents of the UK, which obviously may not be the case). I’ve often recently wondered why the UK news on telly is so relentlessly ‘glass half empty’, but I’m coming to realise that the reason is because most UK residents are also ‘glass half empty’ people.
Fairplay I like being able to watch MOTD in the morning.
While browsing cycling forums...
I’ve often recently wondered why the UK news on telly is so relentlessly ‘glass half empty’, but I’m coming to realise that the reason is because most UK residents are also ‘glass half empty’ people.
What a delightfully glass half empty view of UK residents.
What a delightfully glass half empty view of UK residents.
Ah maybe you’re right. Maybe is a view of the English mentality and not the UK in general. But I think perhaps us Northern Irish folks are even worse.
Isn’t it mainly due to bad news being more interesting?
Take this news story:
Scalpers booking up driving tests, that is a great example of the downsides of online bookings etc. (not sure how they are doing it as I assume you need a provisional licence to book)
But the alternative story where the test booking system is functioning normally and nobody has an issue - well that is fascinating.
What a delightfully glass half empty view of UK residents.
Albeit as I discovered myself, if you spend all your time complaining moaning, groaning, arguing on internet forums and such like, surely you’re running yourself down mentally.
Stop, pause and enjoy what’s around you, take your foot of the gas pedal of other peoples expectation. In between my two posts a temporarily fixed a kitchen shelf rather than reading the news as I usually do, what a positive start to the day.
Cars and computers, bikes and phones are what they are. Things cannot make me happy or sad frustrated or content. Comparing those things to the things that they replaced is a waste of energy.
Ace - contactless payments, online banking, the internet, the death of cash (and cash in hand tax evasion), self service tills and petrol pumps.
Cons - technology refusniks, not the people on the breadline who use cash to budget or people who genuinely cant use the technology, but the large number of people who can but somehow think swapping metal and paper tokens is actually a better system.
Its all mindset, ive gradually come to realise if you properly embrace it modern technology can sometimes be annoying but actually a lot of it works really well and does make life easier and more secure.
And this in spades.
I think anyone who is around 50 year old like me has the best of both worlds
I constantly tell my kids this, we have all the benefits but retain the sense of amazement. I still remember seeing my first iPhone and Windows PC.
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think https://amzn.eu/d/gCGGmxE
Great book
As consumers, the quality of the products and services offered to us over the past fifty years have improved beyond all recognition, as mentioned previously.
As an example, navigation in cars. Used to be map books, then I remember being amazed when you could get turn by turn instructions from the AA website. After that a Tom Tom which seemed like something out of James Bond. Now just Google and Apple maps.
However consumerism doesn't make us happy, and we quickly adapt to the new levels of service, so that when things don't work it actually makes us more unhappy than if we'd never had them.
At the same time we miss out on other things by making services more convenient. We don't need to go out as much. When we do go out, it tends to be more regimented. We're less likely to need to connect to people.
Economists have documented five qualities that we need in our lives to give them meaning. They are:
- Connecting
- Learning
- Being active
- Experiencing the world
- Contributing
A lot of "improvements" over the years have taken us away from these things. And some of the technology to give them back to us, is probably worse. Online dating for example.
I think that the trick is to embrace the novelty without losing track of those qualities.
It’s the saying…
Anything that exists when you are born—15 years old is normal and dull.
New things that appear 15-35 are new and exciting and probably something you can have a career in.
New things that appear after 35 are unnecessary and not to be trusted.
38 here, chatGPT is not for me, youngsters at work love it
I forgot calculators. Before then dealing with numbers was pen and paper. We used to use logarithm tables for multiplying and dividing big numbers. We were still getting taught them in maths classes in the 70s just after calculators came in.
And decimalisation. No longer needing to work out pounds, shillings, and pence when adding sums of money together.
I forgot calculators. Before then dealing with numbers was pen and paper. We used to use logarithm tables for multiplying and dividing big numbers. We were still getting taught them in maths classes in the 70s just after calculators came in.
I remember countless times going through school in the 90s and 2000s when teachers in maths would say "you need to know how to do this because when you're a grown up you're not going to be carrying a calculator around in your pocket everywhere are you?" and then smartphones happened
