My phone struggled to load the site to order a single cold brew, pop-ups to install the custom App kept obscuring the options, and I had to register with my phone number, email address, and first and last name to buy a $5 cup of coffee.

Then walk out. Don't reward the bullshit with your money. The coffee shop ain't gonna give a shit if you keep buying coffee just to go home and complain on your blog.

I don't agree. Technology in itself is not helpful nor harmful. It's a tool like a hammer or a knife or a pen and a block of paper.

I agree if one says that technology makes it easier to do harm.:) People and their motives and actions are the same as always, since the stone age and ago.

For the past 20 years, tech has promised to make things more efficient while making almost everything more complicated and less meaningful. Innovation, for innovation's sake, has eroded our craftsmanship, relationships, and ability to think critically.

I feel this in my bones.

Tech is a tool. It can be benefitting the oligarchs and restrictive, or benefitting society and open source.

"In some parts of the city, you can't even park your car anymore without downloading an app."

Omg, this. I left my phone at home by accident and quickly found out that I could not pay a meter on the area I went to .... You had to download an app to pay or use you phone to register a phone number and manually enter a plate and credit card.

No phone.....meant no parking.

Good luck too if your phone happens to run out of battery.

I'm tired of people seeing everything as binary good or bad. We have more than two brain cells, and life isn't a fucking meme.

The internet peaked in utility around 2004. Most, if not all, developments since then have only made things worse

As someone who grew up before the negative effects of computer/internet technology became apparent, and who was excited and impatient for it to develop, I agree with the points made in the article. It didn't have to be this way; in a different kind of society it could have been a boon to everyone. But in our society all the benefits of good things are appropriated by the powerful so they can more readily exploit the less powerful for profit.

So many wonderful possible benefits that might have come from these technological advancements, to help people lead better lives, to address many of society's issues (hunger, climate change, disabilities, education, etc) simply never happened, because in our society money must be invested to develop them, so only things that would make more profits for the greedy were able to be developed. Yes, some things did get funded by governments or foundations, but they're only a drop in the bucket to what could be done.

I'm tired of the people who are the ones that have taken tech to the direction it has gone in for a long while now. Making up problems that weren't ever there before that suddenly now need a stupid app or a feature to fix but adds in its own problems.

I'm tired of big tech deciding when we should upgrade because they deliberately create things that break, degrade and becomes obsolete far shorter than whatever should have.

I'm tired of unnecessary things like added fees for 'convenience'. I'm tired of things like fucking google flipping back accounts on me when I need to see a number to another account.

So much shit is that I'm tired about with tech. Tech is supposed to be exciting, easier, friendlier. Now it's just manipulated into a problem of its own, simply because of those who are behind it.

I don't want to read this article, because I know it's right, and it's depressing.

Scenario1:

"Um, hi. Can I just order here inside? Thanks. I'm really hating the apps now. For sure: one medium cold-brew, please. Yes, thanks, to go. Okay; tap here? Excellent. Oh. Put 'guppy' on the cup. Thanks! [pause] Oh, perfect. Hey, thanks again for letting me skip the app. Those are so frustrating! I'm really starting to avoid any place that uses them, and I'm so grateful I can still come in. Have a great day!"

Scenario2:

"Um, hi. Can I just order here? No? Just the app? That's too bad: I'm really getting frustrated with the app and I'm starting to avoid places that need them. Nope, that's all I needed, sorry. Thanks anyway, and have a great day!"

I like this idea because

1. you're affirming the target behaviour
2. you're getting a coffee and going
3. you're being chipper so they don't feed off your grumpy face
4. you're providing feedback without being too much 'that guy', I hope, to the serving staff.

In all things, you don't wanna be That Guy, because you know servers don't need that shit. But, while the odds are slim of feedback getting up the chain of command, you're being clear (and probably more concise) as to how to get more of your business in case the feedback DOES go up.

I'm tired of people saying "technology" when they mean an application of a narrow subfield of technology. Even worse is when they're not even talking about the tech at all, but instead the practices, leadership, or stock market performance of some corporation that happens to apply some technology in the course of its business.

I do share the sentiment in this article, though. There's way too much stuff that we don't need, often making our lives worse, being pushed at us in order to extract wealth or power.

I like playing video games...

Tech could make our life easier, if only the fruits of increased efficiency would go towards us all instead of the few rich people at the top.

I work in a coffee shop; I already feel sufficiently dehumanized by the amount of people who answer my "how are you today?" with "cappuccino to-go". I would hate to work in a café where you order via your phone.

Tech was ruined in the 90s when capitalistic influences (microsoft being the dominant force but far from the only one) propagandized the industry and eventually populace at large with the idea that competition in the industry is what drives innovation.

Granted, much of their work was already done for them thanks to western influence perpetuating this ideal for ages. But when the frameworks for open standards, interoperability, and collaborative development were being proposed and put into place they were shot down and/or actively sabotaged

As a result 40 years later we have this mess. A landscape filled with nightmare tech. Fragmentation everywhere, design heavily influenced by a small handful of sociopaths with no empathy and active disdain for users, the idea of open standards is something that requires government intervention (and still rarely occurs), interoperability is something that has to be hacked around and frequently breaks as a means to encourage purchasing a competing product.

What could have been. Tech designed for people’s needs rather than tech designed to extract income

I dont know... This Linux thing is pretty great, IMO.

I get their point, but it feels like it's more about tech being abused by large corporations, trying to squeeze another cent out of you.

God, same. I'm to the point where I don't even want a phone at all anymore. I'm so tired of just... everything.

Tech definitely is. Gate-keeping, stupid pricing, etc. done by few corporations and individual isn't.

Tech doesn't make the world better. It's a tool that's been used to make rich people richer. Everyday people coming together for a greater cause makes the world better.

Technology has started to make it easier and easier to be anti consumer. To maximise how much you can extract out of consumers.

It is making it easier to understand and control exactly how they use products and services. This allows you to structure your price and offering to give them the minimum amount they'll accept at the maximum price. Allows you to strip features out and offer them for extra. Allows you to hide things behind ongoing subscriptions. Allows you to better lock people into products and services, making it more difficult to switch/leave.

All of this was possible (and being done) before, but technology makes this so much easier/better.

Technologies often start out by making something easier for the consumer. But beyond the early stages, it's all about making the world better - for the corporations developing and selling products and services.

I remember Andrewism's take on Luddites dispelling a lot of common misconceptions (and results of propaganda, iirc) on the topic

Technology and progress were at one time closer to synonymous but those definitions have forked widely. It's important to identify what is a development that brings value and pushes progress and what is a use of technology that punishes us, controls us, or simply makes life more complicated. The vast majority of technology now falls into these categories.