Tech's Frightful 5 Embedded in Your Life - Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon

mskeggs on 12/05/2017 - 07:55

An article from the NYT that first made me roll my eyes, but had a interesting game:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/innovation/techs-frightful-fi…

"If an evil, tech-phobic monarch forced you to abandon each of the Frightful Five, in which order would you do so, and how much would your life deteriorate as a result?"

I'm not as convenience dependent as the author, and I could ditch Amazon and Facebook without blinking. I'm typing on a Macbook, but it is the first time I ever used a Mac as my primary computer, so Apple could go too.
Microsoft used to be critical to me, and I still use Word a lot, but I could switch to Linux and Open Office without too much pain.
But Google, wow. They are really embedded in my life, with Gmail, search and Android being used many times a day, and maps, photos, and a few other services are the ones I use for those specific tasks. Very hard to give up, and I was online for a good few years before Google existed, so I remember what it was like in that dark time ;-)

General Discussion

Comments

  • altomic on 12/05/2017 - 08:47

    Don't forget one of the most embedded pieces of technology - pacemakers.

  • [Deactivated] on 12/05/2017 - 08:57
    +1

    oz bargain is Embedded in my Life

    • railspider on 12/05/2017 - 09:40
      +1

      My list, from easiest to hardest to give up: Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, OzBargain

  • retiredfeline on 12/05/2017 - 09:45
    +2

    Easiest first:

    1. Apple, don't have any of their products
    2. FB, only because some accounts use their login
    3. Amazon, buy some stuff now and then, but will survive if they disappear
    4. Microsoft, have a couple of accounts
    5. Google, yeah the biggie, rely on mail, calendar, maps, etc. Could probably transfer to another provider with a lot of work.

    Surprised Diji1 hasn't piped in yet.

  • Scorpex on 12/05/2017 - 10:17
    +1

    Google definitely the hardest to give up. I remember doing my first Google search, after being given a heads up on this "amazing new search engine in beta testing" by my software developer brother. It think it was in 1999. I've been addicted ever since.

    • Wampus on 12/05/2017 - 10:29
      +1

      Yeah I don't think many people get exactly how much better Google was as a search engine than its competitors when it first came out.

  • abb on 12/05/2017 - 11:23

    Microsoft, Apple - already done. I don't use them at all. My work email server is Outlook, does that count? The IT department would have to change that I guess.

    Amazon - very easy, I rarely use them (until they come here). Lots of stuff I do is probably hosted on AWS behind the scenes though.

    Facebook - I guess I could figure out how to talk to people & arrange events by other means, but I'd miss the drama ;)

    Google…
    Search - Duck Duck Go works pretty well.
    YouTube - I'm not a huge user. Would be a touch socially excluding to ignore the links my friends send me.
    Android - I'm gonna need a new phone. I think there are some that run Ubuntu? Haven't seen any for sale though.
    Gmail - damn, gmail is really good. This is the one they've got me on. I could host my own email server, but gmail has very good spam filters, categorization, calendar integration etc.

  • [Deactivated] on 12/05/2017 - 13:58

    Apple and Amazon - little to almost no use.

    Youtube - easy convenient free entertainment. Could do without, just takes effort to find other entertaining websites.

    Facebook - just used for the convenience, no need to have a directory of fair-weather friends and I can use the information to make it seem like they're more than fair-weather friends to me. Makes it easier to keep up with more friends for less mental effort. Occasionally entertaining.

    Microsoft - Essential for my work, probably have alternatives out there but it would take some getting used to. Not sure if linux supports the games I play (have tried some linux platforms to run media-PCs).

    Google - A little bit harder, I do like gmail and google search (plenty of alternatives), google maps (unaware of useful alternatives), android phones (not many viable alternatives, but again it is just for convenience).

    A lot of these tech companies have just made my life easier and I use them purely out of convenience and/or because everybody else uses them.
    If facebook went away, I'd just cull off some of the casual acquaintance.
    If Microsoft went away, everybody's work would be affected (not only mine) and I'd think I would bounce back pretty quick. Would be sad if I couldn't play some games though.
    If google/smartphones went away, I'd just have a couple more devices instead of one phone. I've used sports and car gps, used nokia and blackberry semi-smartphones. I can go back to yahoo or hotmail.

    For the sake of convenience and laziness I've probably sacrificed a bit of privacy (whatever, advertisements don't influence me). If an evil monarch forced me to abandon technology, I'd just have to recalibrate the balance between laziness and how social or how organized i'd like my life to be.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join