Sometimes, I feel modern life

[XanaDUer2]

Has become too complex. I'm tired of being told my personal data was hacked and having to stress about that and go through updates and pay for credit monitoring. I'm sick of having to get a code to access everything online. I'm tired of the internet going down. Now AI. I feel like I'm out of it half the time. Its stressing me out. Sick of passwords, shitty customer service, being expected to do everything myself through apps. My brain sometimes doesn't compute

[Basic LA]

1. Totally with you!

Just had a friend try to explain a complex photo editing procedure. When I didn't understand, he said, well in other words...and then just repeated the same incomprehensible formula all over again. Why all the complexity to the digital world? Did progress always demand so much from the common consumer?

[XanaDUer2]

2. We were supposed to know

How to use tons of different software at work like we were robots.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Complex tasks require complex software. Try doing that photo editing in old-fashioned darkroom

I have!

You might have to make multiple inter-negatives and perform lots of hand shading, and then there is all the chemical processing. To make a three-color posterized print take hours.

That's complex!

In Photoshop you can do it in minutes, capture the settings and apply it to dozens of other photos in seconds. That's much simpler, but still complex.


Another point: the simpler something is, the less control you have. You can tell an AI to make a picture of tRump praying in a Hindu temple, but you can't control how many fingers he has unless you notice and catch it in time. The AI will do odd things willy-nilly and you have to really ride herd on it.

That's a simple procedure that becomes complex because the subject matter and the task are inherently complex.


Regarding your friend's repeated explanation; people are just dumb-fuck stupid that way. Like the American tourist (the "Ugly Americans" ) who raises their voice and repeats something when it isn't understood and then gets angry. It seems that not enough people exercise imagination and too many don't take the time for empathy to see things from other people's points of view.


(By the way, real photo editing is selecting the best pictures and laying them out on pages for magazines or books. What is called photo "editing" these days used to be called manipulation or special processing.)

[Basic LA]

16. I take your point but still want simplicity

I worked with film cameras & darkrooms, too. (Remember how time would fly in there?) Some people took to computers easily. Wish I was one. I can't even change my car clock to Standard Time. Neither could anyone at the Honda dealership. That's what I mean.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. I SAID, "THAT'S A SPICEY-A MEAT-A BALL-A!"

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Dodging and burning are quicker in Gimp than with an enlarger and a darkroom.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Yup. GIMP is powerful, Free, and free. As good as Photoshop unless

... unless you are or nearly are a professional photographer or illustrator.

'"Free and free" means open-source and no fee.

I have not updated Photoshop or Lightroom since they went to a subscription lock-in model.

[LoisB]

3. You are not alone.

I think the one that bothers me the most is having to download weekly digital deals to my grocery store loyalty card and having to have a password to do it.

[XanaDUer2]

4. I forgot to add ecoupons

I get it

[petronius]

9. Yep, and that password has to have at least 10 characters, no dupes, contain no recognizable

words, and at least one upper-case, lower-case, number, and special character. And you have to change it every 6 months...

[LoisB]

11. LOL! It is ridiculous, isn't it?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Use the XKCD batteryhorsestaple method

Pick three or four words that don't usually appear together, put them together, make the last letter capitalized and append a numeral and/or special character if required.

More secure than an autogenerated ten character password that is instantly forgettable.

[Marcus IM]

5. It's ALL about portal access now.

The customer now does the work for the provider.
The provider hires few to no people.
A capitalist dream come true.

Where I come from, GP doctors still make house calls - and are required to make at least one household checkup every year.
No portals.

[XanaDUer2]

7. I insisted on paper tax forms

I don't want yet another password to get a form I print out with my shitty printer. I will sign in once a year. Why should I do that?

[Marcus IM]

8. Why do we need to get a text w/a passcode to get into the portal in order to get a prescription refill w/more passcodes?

It's maddening.

Then, when I visit my family back at home, there's no such thing as a portal nor any requirement for texted passcode to get into corporate portals. When I tell them what it's like here they are pretty shocked. Not what they want.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Where is "back home"? Some places have fewer consumer protection standards

Your profile is silent on it, but this is the second time in a single thread you have referred to the mysterious place you come from.

[Marcus IM]

20. Sorry.

Just got back from an errand.

I am Cuban born Cuban-American.

I'm in S Florida. Most of my family lives in Cuba. I go often.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. No worries. Cuba is noted for its focus on medicine and health care

It provides medical expertise to places and calamities where it is really appreciated.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Where do you come from? Your profile is silent in that regard. . . . . nt

[Prairie_Seagull]

6. You are so not alone.

The information age needs to come with Xanax.

[Demobrat]

10. Computers were supposed to make life easier and more efficient.

Instead they made it more complex and expensive. In the San Francisco apartment building I live in we MUST have a smart phone in order to do laundry. Machines don’t take quarters anymore. They run on apps.

[XanaDUer2]

12. Omg nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. That IS easier and more efficient

... for the owner(s). Collecting physical cash (especially coins) is inefficient, labor intensive and can carry risk of mugging.

[Demobrat]

19. I get it. And I don't even mind using the app.

It means I don’t have to collect quarters. All good. But I have a smart phone anyway.
Older people in the building who don’t want or can’t afford a smart phone are out of luck.

[XanaDUer2]

24. And they're outta luck

Or pay someone to wash their clothes. I get letting people use a credit card, I do. App sounds like a pain in the ass. Is it hard to do?

[Demobrat]

26. No, not at all.

It’s not the app that bothers me. For awhile we could use either, and that was great. Out of quarters? No problem.

It’s the fact that we MUST use the app now that bugs me. It’s really hard for a couple of older people. I’ve even been asked if they could give me the cash and use my phone. Of course I say sure, but it’s not exactly convenient for them.

[XanaDUer2]

28. People should have a choice nt

[Demobrat]

29. Yup

But the landlord is a huge corporation that is all about profits, not people.

[XanaDUer2]

30. Ah, that explains it

If you can use an app, a credit card should also be allowed

[Demobrat]

33. Nope. Has to be an app.

A debit/credit card would be fine.

[LuckyCharms]

25. Excellent post. n/t

[XanaDUer2]

27. Hi

[Mr.Bill]

31. I'm just glad I'm old enough to have retired

before I had to use a lot of technology to make a living. I made my living mainly with machinery, some of it built long before I was born. For me the internet is pure entertainment. I know just enough about it (mostly self taught) to have some fun with it. I don't even know how to type.

[Deuxcents]

32. The digital age has changed so much, I feel embarrassed asking my niece for help!

I can get some things but not all and I’m always requested to go to “the app”. I have a little password notebook and I have about half of my passwords crossed out as I’ve had to change them to something more complex. I’m having trouble thinking up of ditties because I’ve had so many. All I wanted in my “golden years” was a simple, uncomplicated life but so far, it hasn’t happened!