Most importantly - more such phones that are affordable. Even specifics like giant size aside, the only Pixel I can afford is the one that is either not supported or close to the end of support. Also they’re not even officially available here, which seems to be a common problem.
I only really know better-off people in big cities doing so with phones (closest to a really common case would be important things like Whatsapp stopping working). Also a non-flagship phone doesn’t cost nearly as much as a computer.
$500 is an enormous sum to throw out without thinking, even in places where it’s not an above-average monthly salary. An average person wouldn’t throw out a perfectly good computer just because his OS told him to, he would think “how bad could it be?” unless the system literally bricks itself.
Often it is not even “apathetic”. Often it is rather “scared”.
I don’t think most people would buy a new computer if the OS cannot upgrade. Average Joe can’t afford that, Joe would rather stay on an EOL system and hope everything is alright.
Gen Z here. Only “age-inappropriate” things I found in the woods were condoms and syringes :(
Yeah, I don’t deny there are significant negatives. But this is the closest we got to mass-adopted digital cash YET. Buying it can indeed be tricky, I did get lucky with that.
And the vast majority of purchases, the mass adoption, aren’t stuff that people care to hide or they would already be only using cash.
I don’t think crypto is even supposed to be for the “vast majority of purchases”. It does and always will exist alongside traditional payment options, which are, indeed, preferrable for many things.
But when it comes to learning the tech… Isn’t it the same for proper privacy, anonymity and safety in general? Instead of proclaiming it as a “lost cause”, I think we should lend a hand to someone who needs protection but has trouble figuring it out.
Also paying with card might just become impossible even for people who don’t mind it (like me). Sure, I could go through a middleman, but their commission would far exceed Monero fees and there’s a bigger chance of being scammed.
opportunities to get hacked and all your crypto stolen
Oh, forgot to reply to that one. In some cases the individual responsibility is actually preferrable to the nonzero chance that a bank or government would freeze your bank account.
most crypto is completely traceable because of the public ledger
True, but it is possible to purchase anonymously. KYC exchanges are just the most convenient option. Or exchange with Monero, which is what a lot of people do as well. Although if there were actual stakes, I wouldn’t depend just on what Monero provides, just because you shouldn’t have just one layer of safety anyway.
However, for most people, crypto doesn’t work like cash, and does work like a stock.
Not exactly the tool’s fault that it was used not for its initial purpose. It is quite literally hammering in nails with a microscope, lol.
there’s stupid high fees for the common Bitcoin and Etherium networks
I myself have only used Monero, and the fees there are negligeable. But yea, transactions do still take a while. Never dealt with BTC yet, but it is a bit frustrating that it’s so much more widely accepted despite higher fees.
Basically if you’re not buying something highly illegal, there’s 0 benefit to a normal person
First - there might be things as simple as sanctions. My own purchases are completely innocent, but crypto turned out to be the simplest and safest way to pay in such a situation. Second - this argument kind of steps into the “I have nothing to hide” territory. Normal things might turn into “highly illegal” overnight - first thing that comes to mind is what happened with abortion laws. There are always vulnerable people who aren’t criminals, and saying they shouldn’t have such a payment option is kind of close to “only criminals would need end-to-end encryption”.
I conveniently download tracks from Yandex Music from Inspect -> Network. What is not there, I get from Youtube. I appreciate streaming for music discovery (Spotify in particular was meh for that though), but having my actual collection just there and not locally? I can’t really even comprehend that tbh, that seems limiting and inconvenient, not to mention lack of ownership.
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My most consistent dream sign is that I cannot run. I don’t just get exhausted, I lose coodrination, but can for some reason continue running on my fours like a dog. Maybe it’s just being a furry?
Another one is losing my backpack or purse, getting anxiety about how I screwed up and thinking it must not be real.
It frustrates me how it strayed from its original course. It was supposed to be a payment system independent of banks and thus not capable of screwing people over. Sanctions would have made it hard for me to pay for some things, but Monero offers a way. People who need to make sensitive payments can do so without their bank having a record of that. It is just cash for the digital world. A tool, not a stock.
That is - I wish the people that want to get rich from it just quit. Leave the system for people who really need it.
Provable to be worse than existing alternatives? Which alternatives there are? The only one that comes to mind is cash by mail, which is not doable in some places.
Afaik there were ways even around that.
That is rural life though, not exactly suburban. Suburbs have the worst attributes of the city and countryside, while having little benefits of both)
Also I would not do so because of privacy issues. The main ID in my country doesn’t have scannable parts anyway, but even if it did, I would much rather not give a store a chance to record some of my personal data like that.
I have never seen cashiers ask such things. At most they’d ask whether I have the discount card or if I want one of the featured discounted items. Usually I don’t miss anything when wearing headphones.
neighborhoods are better for kid stuff
Maybe it’s just me growing up in the city, but I would not want to raise my kid in an American-style suburb. Imagine being a tween but never being able to go anywhere without your parents, because everything is too far away to walk or bike and public transport is not available. Yikes.
I personally cannot imagine having my whole collection depend on a service like this. I use musical streaming for discovery (on free plans), and the actual collection is all local.
Also I use Yandex Music because its recommendations just work for me. Tried Spotify several times but the algorithm just was consistently not getting it. Not to mention it wanted you to enable DRM and was frustratingly slow compared to other applications I use.
Not needing a dedicated mp3 player
Well, and Spotify doesn’t even give you such an option on the other hand. Only desktop and smartphone, probably wouldn’t allow one that is perma-offline, and only in the official proprietary app/webapp.
Or in a Veracrypt container called “10 hours of rain.avi”.
I recently switched to wireless over-the-ear headphones and overall happy. However, when it comes to earbuds - they would only be wired. Unlike my large headphones, which can be unscrewed for that, most earbuds would have trouble wen replacing the battery. And - maybe more importantly - easier to lose since they’re separate and so small.