Mobile Phones Becoming Compulsory

[Geffers]

There is no getting away from mobile apps nowadays, apps for your fridge, apps for your cooker, apps to park your car, apps for your health. The mobile phone is becoming compulsory and no doubt you'll have to replace phone every so often as apps require certain version of phone Operating System.

My latest encounter, I have some space on the Oracle Cloud service. I run a small web server there (mainly for experimental and practice reasons).

Today I logged in to the web interface and was compelled to agree to 2FA, either a hardware USB device or an APP. More bloat on my phone. Not only 2FA but the password has to be 12 characters long, include mixture of capitals and lower case, magic characters etc and mustn't include certain names, on top of that one cannot view the password.

Do all these companies honestly think we all memorise these passwords?

Password managers, not sure I trust the online ones, then the local ones are probably awkward to use on various devices.

I actually keep an encrypted list of passwords as a plain text file, non important sites may have easier repetitive passwords and financial sites the more complicated ones.

Appreciate any comments about password manages if anyone uses them.

Geffers

 

[Retro]

There is no getting away from mobile apps nowadays, apps for your fridge, apps for your cooker, apps to park your car, apps for your health.

Apps for your apps! But seriously, the smartphone is becoming one's digital hub and without it one is lost.

Enforcing 2FA is a right pita, but it does improve security significantly.

 

[Geffers]

2FA is actually quite good but we seem to often get no choice as to how, it doesn't HAVE to be a phone app, it can be a text message. Google often do a 'push' to your phone. I have one that second factor is an email to my chosen address. I'm interested in the hardware keys but neither of my banks seem to offer this option. Plus the hardware keys are quite pricey.

Geffers

 

[kitschy]

In all honestly, my attention span has definitely gotten worse over the years. I 100% have a compulsion to look at my phone whenever I drop something I'm doing. I'll take "phone breaks" and take my phone to the bathroom where even when I'm done doing my business, I stay seated scrolling aimlessly.

While phones have no doubt made it easier and convenient for us, specially during the pandemic and now, being connected more than ever, staying updated on world issues; it also does a lot of bad for the human psyche. Specifically social media, and it's parasocialism. I always try to cater my online experience in a way I know I will enjoy, but I'm not immune to doom scrolling when I've scrolled too far.

I feel that's another conversation for another thread tho, don't wanna derail too much.

 

[Retro]

Some people go on a physical holiday and make sure to leave their mobiles and technology in general behind for a week or two. That would be hell for me. Regardless of what I'm doing, I never wanna be offline.

 

[Retro]

While phones have no doubt made it easier and convenient for us, specially during the pandemic and now, being connected more than ever, staying updated on world issues; it also does a lot of bad for the human psyche. Specifically social media, and it's parasocialism. I always try to cater my online experience in a way I know I will enjoy, but I'm not immune to doom scrolling when I've scrolled too far.

I feel that's another conversation for another thread tho, don't wanna derail too much.

Hey kitschy we haven't seen you in a while and I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts about this if you'd like? Feel free to talk about it here, or to start a new thread.

 

[Geffers]

In all honestly, my attention span has definitely gotten worse over the years. I 100% have a compulsion to look at my phone whenever I drop something I'm doing. I'll take "phone breaks" and take my phone to the bathroom where even when I'm done doing my business, I stay seated scrolling aimlessly.

While phones have no doubt made it easier and convenient for us, specially during the pandemic and now, being connected more than ever, staying updated on world issues; it also does a lot of bad for the human psyche. Specifically social media, and it's parasocialism. I always try to cater my online experience in a way I know I will enjoy, but I'm not immune to doom scrolling when I've scrolled too far.

I feel that's another conversation for another thread tho, don't wanna derail too much.

It certainly has become a must have with you item, almost like being inappropriately dressed, if one forgets the phone on edge for the day.

Geffers