I'm worried that in the future we will be forced to use smartphones just like in China
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".
The thing that is bothering me right now is seeing “cashless” establishments. Frankly, it’s kind of discriminatory, and I do not know how you can justify denying people goods and services if they are carrying the currency of the country they live in. That does not sit right with me.
You're not forced to use smartphones. I happen to live in China, and there are people without them.
You can buy tickets at the counter or vending machines, you can text or call instead of sending wechat messages, you can pay bills by card or direct debit, and supermarkets all accept cards (Chinese ones, that is) or cash.
People use wechat or alipay out of convenience. Just like people in the West use whatsapp, signal, fb messenger, telegram or whatever else there is. And some of those are testing payment service integrations (whatsapp pay for example is live in India since a few months ago).
You don't like it - don't use it. Nobody will force you. But if it takes me 7 seconds on my phone to finish a task vs. 2h in person, guess which one I'm choosing.
Something happened in QC a few weeks ago like this. A IIRC 60yo person who donated blood all his life, went to a donor center, there was a lot of empty seats so he wanted to do like he has done for 40 years, take a seat and give blood, but no, nurses told him he has to register and make an appointment on the application. So he left.
My kid's school just implemented an app-based pickup process this year.
You have to download an app and register your phone and email and child, then when you get in the line to pickup your child you have to press a button in the app.
I literally cannot retrieve my child from school without a smartphone.
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)
I'm the opposite; coming from a more digital society my worry isn't that we'll all use smartphones, but that people don't have access to digital initiatives and will be left behind. I also am concerned with how some things don't have more regulatory oversight.
In short, smartphones good, unregulated big tech, bad. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I honestly think the US is at that point. I need a phone to clock in, you can't find price checkers anymore, physically paying bills just doesn't happen anymore, checks are becoming obsolete. Stores are downsizing in favor of online markets, banks are closing lobbies in favor of digital. We love in a digital world and while it's technically possible without it still, very difficult to do so.
I was in China two months ago. While WeChat and AliPay are ubiquitous, it's not true that China is cashless. You can still use cash pretty much everywhere, but expect vendors to have to rummage for a bag of cash behind the counter then panic as they don't remember how to count money.
But honestly, it's not that different from Europe and North America. When I'm in, say, Canada or France, I'm using a Visa credit card through Google Wallet for absolutely everything. Not sure I trust Google and Visa any more than WeChat.
My go to answer is to say that I don't have a mobile phone. Actually, I have one, but it's only for personal contacts, not for institutions. When a clerk asks me for my phone number, I answer: sure, give me your phone number, I'll text you my contact.
Same for administrations and my employer: my boss has my phone numbers but not HR in my company.
The only institution that has my phone number is my bank, and i'm seriously considering using an alternate authentication method for 2FA at my bank.
Every generation needs to adopt new technologies if they want to live in society. For some it was cars, for others it was phones, faxes or the internet. We also stop using older technology... for example, I've never sent a fax in my life. It probably sucks for people who still want to send faxes, but now you scan and email or take a picture and send it via your favourite app. Today you need internet and a phone. It is what it is... like every generation you either keep up or get left behind.
Yes, smartphones can be used to manipulate and spy. You can also use them to learn, to be entertained, to drive to places you had no idea how to reach, keep in touch with people, and so on. I'm not being "controlled" by anyone when I pick my phone and make a video call to a friend or watch a tutorial about something I want to do. You're only focusing on the bad aspects, so it's not a surprise that phones are so evil for you. Plus, some people prefer to have all their tickets, cards, etc, inside an app instead of carrying coins and cards around... it's not bad for everyone.
Regarding China, yes, some countries will be like them. Some won't. There's a lot of stuff that have nothing to do with phones that could have be done by other countries, but haven't because things are different. Governments want to control people, but you probably don't need a permit to travel from one side of your country to the other like they do in China or used to to in the Soviet Union. Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't see why every country must become very controlling surveillance states. It's possible, but there are other possible outcomes too.
I think it's good to be aware about the negative aspects of technology, but to "hate the future" just because it may (or not) be worse than today doesn't make sense to me. I'll deal with the problem when and if it appears.
This will happen and marginalized groups like illegal immigrants, the homeless, and the disabled will be effectively excluded. Poor people are going to have their finances controlled even more. This will cause deaths.
Maybe we should step away from China for a moment given their government has a very strong motivation to keep tabs on its citizens and the fact their very mention is biasing the conversation and look at another country which has a strong smartphone presence and I often see posted on here as an example of privacy - Norway
We're effectively cashless (I don't think I've even handled cash since they swapped the banknotes over) and I think most people do their banking from bills to petty transfers on their phone. You can't get a physical bus card, because that's on your phone, or the ticket is attached to your bank card. We don't have an all encompassing WeChat or even like, any homegrown social media. I'm not exactly sure which aspect of WeChat you're honing in on so I can't say Norway does that too, but we do an awful lot via our phones. I do have some gripes about how some things are set up, but they're complaints that aren't actually exclusive to this specific system.
Push for mobile phones that have open source operating systems like GrapheneOS. It'll probably be the most secure and private device you'll ever own. Then the issue is making these proprietary systems like WeChat, Google Services, whatever China uses. These should be accessible, and if it's required for day-to-day life then you're entitled to know every line of code you're forced to rely on.
It's unironically good that there is further centralisation, integration and efficiency in payments, reservations, bills. What China is doing is It's progress and future. You just can't imagine that anything big and centralised can even in principle work for the people. WELL IT CAN AND IT SHOULD. No need to be a Luddite or dogmatic libertarian about it. What you are really worried that government or big corporation would control it. And if you are one of those that can't process the idea that government could ever be trusted in anything, because of bad experience (and probably partly because of propaganda) then it gets to be understandable position, but it isn't in reality like that and doesn't have to be like that.
Cash and other physical payment methods (Gold, silver, Goldbacks) are important. Same goes with email instead of phone numbers since email can essentially be free while phone numbers cost money to be registered and email is easily accessible on a computer and does not require a phone.