this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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128
I'm worried that in the future we will be forced to use smartphones just like in China (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/technology
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In China, you can't exist without a smartphone, because for all existential things you have to do (paying bills, buying tickets etc.) , you are forced to use the almighty wechat app. Smartphones are a tool to manipulate and to spy on the population. It is a tool utilized by the ruling class, to control the masses. I hate the future and I hate "progress".

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, you already do. Everything is digital, and most stuff is centralised anyhow (payment is controlled by a duopoly, Visa and Mastercard, and you gotta pay almost everything with them)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes and no. I can still pay with cash and live a normal live without owning a smartphone. I can still buy paper train tickets etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

UK & EU loves this stuff though, so they won't mandate you have to use a single phone app for everything, but they will slowly remove your ability to do anything without your phone. You'll just end up with a shittier version of China's system with a billion shitty apps.

[–] synapse1278 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was visiting Berlin last week. So many pubs are cashless now. And so many more cafés have this infuriating QR code menu-card. Meanwhile in Stuttgart, many reataurants are cash-only, which is almost as annoying.