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edent

My bank sends me an alert when my card is used to make a transaction - handy for spotting fraud.

I get an alert when a payment comes it - handy for knowing if a client has paid.

I can quickly check my balance - handy for knowing if I can afford another round of drinks.

I can repay a friend in two taps - handy if they've paid for dinner.

Is anything essential? No. Is it something people use multiple times per day? Yes!

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I can get alerts in email or messages, no need dedicated app for that, I can track there also my balance, so only useful thing app provides are easy wire transfers from phone, which I never do, if I wanna transfer money is much more convenient work big display, proper keyboard and mouse than from phone.

That's great for you but unfortunately the overwhelming majority of people do indeed regularly use these features.

We've cultivated a tech culture that can't stand the slightest inconvenience. People will give up nearly everything if it means avoiding the least bit of effort.

We are so boned

So yes if it weren’t for people wanting convenience the “Year of Linux on the Desktop” would have happened 25 years ago.

What do you suggest? Everyone carry around their desktop computers and our CRT monitors like we did when we wanted to play Quake with friends?

> What do you suggest? Everyone carry around their desktop computers and our CRT monitors like we did when we wanted to play Quake with friends?

The exercise would do people good. Jokes aside though, there is a nuance between completely inconvenient and designed for the marching morons.

You mean 80% of adults worldwide are “morons”? Have you ever thought that they may know something you don’t know?

If 80% of adults worldwide somehow became unable to tolerate the slightest inconvenience, then yes, I'd say they would be morons, but I doubt they are. I'm unsure where you're getting the 80% statistic from.

I used that little convenience of my smart phone and used the internet.

https://www.demandsage.com/smartphone-usage-statistics/

I am sure you are thinking I’m a “moron” because I didn’t drive to the library and use microfiche to find the information…

Or maybe you would have been okay if I used Veronica and searched Gopher sites like I did pre Web in the 90s?

yes, getting emails or text messages instead of having app alerts is luddism.

Get real, dawg

Uhh yes - when 90% of adults worldwide have moved to smart phones - yes you are the Luddite.

Email is for old people has been a meme for two decades

https://www.techdirt.com/2007/11/15/email-is-for-old-people/

Anyone who says "email is for old people" is a fool, at least on that subject.

Yes, because “bigstrat2003” said so. I work for a 1000+ consulting company and no one uses email for internal communications. Even for company wide messages leadership uses Slack.

Heck even when we first start a project we either federate (or whatever you call it) the client’s Slack workgroup with ours or we ask to be on their Teams channel.

Before working where I worked now, I worked for the 2nd largest employer in the US, even there most communication happened over Chime or Slack.

On a personal level you actually email personal contacts - in 2026?

I email my dad documents and photos I need printed (and he uses his work office's laser printer). I forward the billing statement I receive monthly from my family's ISP to my mom via email. And I'm "Gen Z"

And I’m 51 and far from a Luddite. I’ve moved with every technology transition since learning how to program in AppleSoft BASIC and 65C02 assembly. My 83 year old mother is less of Luddite some people commenting here.

She is a retired high school math teacher - been retired for 30 years - and she has used every popular word processor/suite from the original AppleWorks for the Apple //e and she was tutoring friends kids and helping them use GSuite and PowerPoint until 5 years ago.

She uses her phone for everything and she has up to date computers a couple of printers on her network and two ISPs just in case one goes out. She kept the legacy DSL account that’s not available to new subscribers and she has cable internet.

You can get email on your smartphone.

No, it's cool tho, worry about being "hip" and enjoy the authoritarian surveillance state that you are enabling because you've been indoctrinated to want "new thing" and to reject "old thing".

Yes because email is a secure way to send information…

"if I wanna transfer money is much more convenient work big display, proper keyboard and mouse than from phone"

You realize how ridiculous this sounds, right?

It reads like he made typos/autocorrect mistakes on his mobile phone!

Which is a pretty funny illustration of the gist of what he was saying… it’s easier to make mistakes on phones.

yes, work=with

I'm not doing autocorrect typos when I type on computer keyboard, also banking on no gapps rooted phone would be kinda PITA

You actually check your email regularly? How much effort does it really take to transfer a balance on a phone?

For Bank Of America it’s:

1. Click on “pay & transfer”

2. Click on “transfer”

3. Click on “From” and choose account

4. click on “to” and choose account

Then type in the amount and and click on the date?

Is it really that much easier on a computer?

I use email corner with push, so I have emails instantly with notification to my smart watch, all my clients send me tasks through email

yes, especially the 4th point, the entering all the recipient's banking details on real keyboard is much more convenient than switching the windows and checking some microscopic numbers in PDF document on smartphone same copypasting them one by one between different fields (and yes, there are many companies which still don't provide QR code in their invoice)

The overwhelming majority of the population of the developed world now considers the mobile phone as their primary (and often only) computing device. It's always with them, it's more accessible and intuitive than a laptop, and it's how they communicate with everyone. It doesn't matter if you prefer to do this or that on a "real" computer - most people would just do everything through the phone if they could.

It's surprising how we still see posts like these in 2026 on what should be a "future-friendly" forum.

Could all of these be handled through openbanking?

Yes

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