Mobile tariffs

Computers, Internet, Mobile, TV, Audio etc - Help & advice on your tech questions.
User avatar
seahermit
Posts: 1107
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby seahermit » Tue Oct 13, 2020 2:51 am

Up to you, Richard, it's a free world! But the world moves on, you shouldn't be afraid to move on with it.

That's not to say all modern technology is good - a lot of it is over-complex and unnecessary, but surely the clever ones select what is really useful to their lives and ignore the dross.

User avatar
Richard
Posts: 3347
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:36 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby Richard » Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:19 am

I understand that some can't live without a smartphone but I have a computer with a large screen that I can much more easily read.
I have friends in Texas who call me from their 'cell-phone' every so often, I find that voice contact quite exciting enough really.
Being able to get on twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etcetera on a tiny smartphone screen appalls me, it doesn't frighten me at all.
Leave it to the kids!
Business may benefit from smartphones, I can see that.
I'd rather absorb the bigger picture and roam free, enjoying nature without distractions.

User avatar
seahermit
Posts: 1107
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby seahermit » Tue Oct 13, 2020 7:28 pm

What appalls me is that so many of the population, young and old, seem addicted to social media. I don't use FB often but, if I post photos of a music event, invariably I get some "likes" or comments almost immediately - usually from the same few dedicated "Friends" but sometimes strangers! It must mean that their smartphones are permanently switched on, with FB notifications enabled, even through the night!

I have never had any mobile phone switched on (and able to disturb me) throughout 24 hours, wherever I am and whatever I am doing - relaxing, watching a film, out with friends, reading etc. And at bedtime, it all gets turned off anyway. I think many people probably carry the phone to the bath/shower with them!

Mobiles are gadgets - some have called them toys - and social media is deliberately designed to (a) keep people hooked and interested, with constantly stimulating content, videos, offers and so on and (b) to play on people's fears about being out of contact, alone, ignored. But it is all completely unimportant really - and very damaging to people's ability to interact socially and form good relationships with REAL humans.

That has all been said before by many and slowly attitudes are changing, with an increasing awareness of the dangers .. and a realisation that schoolchildren cannot stay awake in class the following day.

User avatar
Richard
Posts: 3347
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:36 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby Richard » Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:18 pm

To my mind the problem with 'smartphone' technology is that it is mainly open to manipulation by commercial interests that just want to exploit its capabilities, via a huge, impressionable audience.
It is not alone in that respect, Connected TV (CTV) being another profitable avenue for ad-tech seeking a hugely profitable revenue.
In the case of Covid and 'track and trace' there are no apparent commercial benefits open to companies to get involved, or to sort the system out.
So, I would suggest that the NHS 'track and trace' system is in a complete 'bugger's muddle', and why?
Because there is no money in it for third parties to capture.
Health plays second-fiddle to profit.

User avatar
seahermit
Posts: 1107
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby seahermit » Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:35 am

It is indeed all about exploitation by commercial interests. Google probably knows more about me and what I do than friends or relatives!

The virus track-and-trace seems to be a complete mess, doesn't effectively trace people half the time. I would support it if it had been properly managed and for health reasons only - but my fears are of it ultimately being used
for permanent surveillance, as in China!

User avatar
seahermit
Posts: 1107
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby seahermit » Sat Oct 24, 2020 3:34 pm

As far as I can gather from the media, the "track and trace" thing has been a complete cock-up. Here was a golden opportunity to use the technology to help the NHS by providing clear, precise information about people's social movements. Instead, there appear to be several different contractors operating the scheme, many of the potential contactees are not actually contacted and those who are often don't hear anything more.

If the scheme was properly organised and all details were stored on some central register (with strict guarantees about security, guarding against misuse etc.), I would have gone along with downloading an application and the central records would have provided a swift method of tracing and informing potentially at-risk people.

But it doesn't at all work that way, many people seem reluctant to impart personal details and many venues are simply resorting to customers filling in slips of paper! I remain to be convinced that those slips are stored in any organised way and that they would form an effective part of a general "trace" if one customer at a venue succumbed to the virus. At the Wetherspoon pub, there are often no slips available (or very visible) anyway and the staff don't check that every customer is bothering to fill one in. All very casual and random.

User avatar
Richard
Posts: 3347
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:36 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby Richard » Sat Oct 24, 2020 7:49 pm

Part of the problem is that the same, as well as different, organisations come up with rules of their own, maybe following guidelines but interpreting and implementing different ways of gathering information and applying them in a rather quirky manner.
Some Taxi drivers will not allow passengers in the front seat, even if they wear a mask, some will.
Pubs should monitor and insist on details of customers, some don't.
You can't drink or eat wearing a mask yet some cafe's don't insist on contact details being recorded.
Some beauty shops hold an electronic thermometer gun to people's foreheads before allowing customers inside. Yet hairdresser's do not bother.
Some G.P. surgery clinics do likewise, do they all?
Too many interpretations and variable enforcement makes the whole affair a complete 'bugger's muddle'.
As for the rules of recording and storing personal information, and the 'data protection' issue we are in right old mess.

User avatar
seahermit
Posts: 1107
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: Mobile tariffs

Postby seahermit » Sat Oct 24, 2020 11:37 pm

An article in the Times today confirmed my suspicions - many pubs, restaurants and other businesses are taking people's details, either from a mobile app or from completed paper forms, but businesses are reporting that this info is not collected by official bodies in any organised way, basically nobody is quite sure what happens to the info after it has been obtained! And even when any tracking is implemented, many of the people you have been in contact with are missed - at very best they manage to trace 60% of them.

Complete shambles and sheer inefficiency. Strange that time-wasting social media, Google, Amazon etc. know almost instantly where I am, where I am shopping, what I am buying,where I live, how old I am .. yet the Government are incapable of harnessing the power of technology to achieve an utterly essential purpose: tracking people who may be vulnerable (or have succumbed) to the virus and who need to be tested and treated.

As you say, money rules. The invasive and intrusive properties of the internet are driven by the huge financial rewards on offer. Public health does not bring big profits, nobody makes their fortune. Except drug companies maybe!


Return to “Technology Chat”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests