What new technology seems like a step backward?

[KJJ]

Electric vehicles.
They are inferior to gas powered vehicles in every way.

They’re still relatively new and are still being perfected. Eventually they won’t be inferior. We had many years to perfect gas powered vehicles.

 

[Montanalo]

Earbuds: personally, I think earbuds are a step backwards from head phones... love my Bose head phones.

 

[Creeper]

Yes. Windows 8 made me so mad that I switched to Kubuntu Linux, and I've been using it ever since. Microsoft fixed the main Win 8 problems starting with 8.1, and then Win 10 and 11 were a lot better, but I'm already firmly in the Kubuntu environment. Plus, Windows is still pretty crappy with privacy. There are a whole host of OS parameter changes that you need to make to nail down privacy. Most Linux distros are strong on privacy by default. My views on Windows evolution is as follows:

Win 3.1, okay, but crash prone, inferior to Mac
Win 95, improved interface, but crashes too much, still inferior to Mac
Win 98, basically 95 with minor tweaks.
Win ME, a total crash-prone disaster.
Win 2000, a lot more stable, but drivers not available for some things
Win XP, First really excellent version of Windows. Stable, and easy to use.
Win Vista, a disaster, slow-poke and annoying
Win 7, Vista fixed to be much, much better & stable. Very good.
Win 8, are you bleepin' kidding me? Still stable, but interface is ruined.
Win 8.1, fixed the main annoying thing of no start button.
Win 10, quite nice and stable, much better security, but privacy is problematic without many setting changes.
Win 11, same as above with a few minor interface changes.

Nowadays Windows is a fairly good OS, but I like my Kubuntu Linux better.

I agree. Windows XP was pretty solid. Vista was a joke. Windows 7 was as solid as XP and MS should have stopped there. What you get with 10 and 11 are what should have been enhancements to 7. Windows 11 made a lot of hardware obsolete which was stupid. Most people use their PCs for email, and browsing the internet. They don't need the latest hardware for that. But it is typical Microsoft. Then they take Windows 7 and 10 out of support so you can't get updates anymore. I understand why but for a lot of folks it makes not sense.

Microsoft has become the giants they almost killed, IBM.

 

[Runwildboys]

Earbuds: personally, I think earbuds are a step backwards from head phones... love my Bose head phones.

It depends on the earbuds and when you use them. I use Raycons at the gym, which I definitely prefer over headphones. They don't fall out, they don't get in the way, and I can put them in my pocket if necessary.

At home, headphones are definitely the better option, or any time you want good bass and clarity.

 

[joseephuss]

My Saturn Ion that I used to have came with an anti-theft system that was supposed to lock it out from starting if it detected someone trying to hotwire it. The problem was, if it was a freezing cold day, putting the key into the ignition would make the system think it was being hotwired, so you would be locked out from starting it. So I kept getting stuck freezing my butt off, and it kept making me late for work. Nearly got me fired. I had no clue why it suddenly would not start. I would have it towed into a repair shop, and then it would start right up for the mechanic. I tried jump starting it, and I tried letting it run for an hour the day before I needed to use it to drive it to work. Whether or not it would start was a crap shoot. Finally, I hired someone with one of those cranes with a super magnet on the end to lift up the car and drop it into the Grand Canyon. Okay, I didn't really do that. I just felt like it. I finally researched it on the Internet and figured out what was wrong. Then only the dealer could fix it. So I paid for the fix, and it was okay. Then a couple years later, they recalled it, fixing the problem for free. Then a couple years later, when I was on a road trip to California, its clutch went out. I had it fixed, and then the clutch kept breaking off about every 6 months. I finally replaced the whole car.
...
The anti-theft system was a good idea that was poorly implemented. After all, no one wants their car to be stolen. But you tend to get upset when, at random, your car won't start and the mechanics can't even figure out why.

I had a similar issue with a Saturn Ion. After getting over 100k miles on the car, it started randomly kicking in the anti-theft system. I learned that disconnecting the battery and waiting 10 minutes re-set it for my vehicle.

 

[thunderpimp91]

It depends on the earbuds and when you use them. I use Raycons at the gym, which I definitely prefer over headphones. They don't fall out, they don't get in the way, and I can put them in my pocket if necessary.

At home, headphones are definitely the better option, or any time you want good bass and clarity.

Agree. From a pure sound quality perspective headphones are going to be the superior product. For me I love the convenience of earbuds though. I can have them on me at all times, wear them anywhere, and easily adjust the settings to let outside noise in.

 

[VaqueroTD]

It depends on the earbuds and when you use them. I use Raycons at the gym, which I definitely prefer over headphones. They don't fall out, they don't get in the way, and I can put them in my pocket if necessary.

At home, headphones are definitely the better option, or any time you want good bass and clarity.

Yeah, it took the portable music tech industry a while to get it right, but you can pretty much do anything now without worry. Long gone from my days of worrying about skipping on my Sony Walkman or earphones that keep falling out. And I also really enjoy those portable tiny blue tooth speakers with the bass. And noiseless headphones are worth their price in gold. Night and day experience on the music when you try on the best ones.

Which brings to my next useless technology... so far... Digital Watches. Screen is too small to do anything practical. They're basically glorified MP3 players while working out or blue tooth headset speakers. And it's a pain having to worry about charging your watch every night to be safe. Frankly... I also prefer the look of old school watches and the craftsmanship behind some of them. I don't wear jewelry, but I will pony up for a nice watch.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

They're unmatched in acceleration. You have 5,000lb electric SUVs that can smoke super cars.

Electric motors have their full torque available instantly.

 

[Runwildboys]

Yeah, it took the portable music tech industry a while to get it right, but you can pretty much do anything now without worry. Long gone from my days of worrying about skipping on my Sony Walkman or earphones that keep falling out. And I also really enjoy those portable tiny blue tooth speakers with the bass. And noiseless headphones are worth their price in gold. Night and day experience on the music when you try on the best ones.

Which brings to my next useless technology... so far... Digital Watches. Screen is too small to do anything practical. They're basically glorified MP3 players while working out or blue tooth headset speakers. And it's a pain having to worry about charging your watch every night to be safe. Frankly... I also prefer the look of old school watches and the craftsmanship behind some of them. I don't wear jewelry, but I will pony up for a nice watch.

I just can't wear a watch. Not only does it get annoying (either it's sliding around on my wrist, or it's too tight), but it'll get broken inside a month. I'm just not careful enough.

I always have my phone on me anyway, so it seems like jewelry, more than anything else, and I don't wear jewelry. I didn't even wear my ring when I was married.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

I purchased a 2021 Toyota Tacoma. Came with 2 years free maintenance, including oil and filter changed.

When the 2 years was up and the next change was due, I figured I'd be doing it myself. Which I've been doing for my and my family's cars for, oh, about 55 years. No biggie, must have done a few hundred of them.
Before I had my own car, I did my mom's car, a 1969 Ford. Pretty simple, just twist off the old filter, check to be sure the rubber gasket didn't stick to the engine (which would cause a massive oil leak if it did when the new filter was put on), and spin the new filter on, tighten it and bingo! Done.

My first car I owned was a 1967 Impala SS327. Figured I'd change the oil when I got it home (used car). But when I went to change it, what did I see?
A metal can-looking thing with a big nut on the bottom, which was actually the head of about a 4 inch long bolt that screwed into the bottom of the engine.. Unscrewing the bolt allowed me to remove the can thing, and inside the can was the filter, looking for all the world like a miniature coffee can, with holes in it, sitting in the can thing full of oil. What a mess! Remove the filter, put a new filter in the can thing, fill the can thing nearly full of oil, finagle the bolt into the hole in the engine block (can't see it, took some practice) and tighten it up. Whew!

Every other car I bought or changed the oil on for the next 50+ years had the "new" way of doing thngs, the one-piece filter with attached gasket. Easy to change.

Well, lo and behold, what does my "modern" Tacoma have? You guessed it, a bolt to undo, a canister to remove from the canister, a gasket to install on the filter and another gasket on the bolt. And the canister has slots in it, none of my oil filter wrenches will work, would have to buy a new wrench (which of course I could use in future changes, no big deal). Filter comes with a plastic threaded tube which you screw up into the canister to drain the oil from it before you remove it.

So thanks, Toyota, you've regressed the oil change technology 57 years!

 

[morasp]

2 channel audio.

 

[nate dizzle]

As much as I love the technology at my fingertips, cell phones. I hear the before times people talk of days when they would leave work and not have to hear from anyone at work until the next day. Can you imagine?

 

[Runwildboys]

As much as I love the technology at my fingertips, cell phones. I hear the before times people talk of days when they would leave work and not have to hear from anyone at work until the next day. Can you imagine?

They were wonderful, peaceful times.

 

[Runwildboys]

2 channel audio.

So, stereo?

 

[morasp]

So, stereo?

It used to be called high end audio. I haven't been involved in it for a while.

 

[VaqueroTD]

They were wonderful, peaceful times.

Before cell phones:

After cell phones:

 

[The Fonz]

I find any smartphone, iPhone or Android, to be totally inferior to a full-sized computer for basic tasks like surfing the web, and especially for writing things. The smartphones are better for other things, like restaurant or hotel finding apps, since you probably won't be lugging your laptop around. However, I could not imagine writing a novel on a smartphone.

PC Only user here ( with 2 Typewriters as a backup) no tablet no smart phone I don't like to be attached to too many gadgets .

 

[Streifenkarl]

This is the thing that cracks me up about the whole electric car debate........is people's sudden concern with mining. Suddenly, it's bad (because it backs up their dislike for the technology). I bet they haven't stated a single concern about copper mining though (it's helping them be on the internet right now, and have power, so it's OK). Or gold/diamond/silver mining (it's used for their wedding ring/jewelry, so it's OK). Or lead mining (it's helping start their ICE vehicle everyday, so it's OK). I could go on. lol

Still, replacing one bad way of extracting natural resources from the earth (oil drilling) with another bad way is just stupid. And until all the energy comes from renewables the whole EV good for earth thing is just a lie.

EVs are definitely a step in the wrong direction. In Germany thousands of perfectly fine running cars were replaced with EV without need instead of being used for many more years which would have been the truely sustainable way. Not even making another car is always better. And no, people would not have bought another diesel/petrol car anyway. At least not so fast.