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Technology, who it's taking advantage of?

Published: Wed 6 Aug, 2008 | 14 Comments
Tags: Technology, Retro, PS1

Technology is a weird thing. You get the best of something only to find out long behold, (x) months later it has been bettered by another product that can do it faster, cleaner, quieter etc. Thus, if you're of the inclination that who got to have everything that's No. 1, you'll fall in to the money circle of product depreciation, but that's not what I'm going to talk about in this blog.

 

I'm going to refer to the advanced technology available to the public, and in particular the elderly or people who have lived a very sheltered technological existence.

 

See I went in to Vodafone Northlands last week to drop off my phone for repair, (Samsung U700v for those wondering) and had to wait while the sales rep. was serving what seemed to be a daughter (50-ish and her father (80+). The sales rep. was directing all his correspondence through the lady, trying to promote a certain phone to her.

 

As I waited I slowly thought how many of those bells and whistles would she possibly use? Besides it was hardly my time and place to bother what people do with their items. Anyway they eventually came over to the counter and the rep. rung up the purchase, and it came to around $500 once the sim card and some airtime had been thrown in.

 

The woman then turned to her (presumed) father and said "well what do you think of that" to which he replied, "Yes it looks very good"

 

The father then proceeded to pull out his credit card and pay for the phone! It was confirmed to me to be his new phone by the banter afterwards between the three, as I stood dumbstruck still waiting to be served.

 

Now I'm not against the elderly or disadvantaged having access to technology or other products, but I personally felt that this bad sales ethics, as the rep. had selected a ridiculously priced phone for what the man's needs will probably be.

 

I find it highly unlikely that he'll use the Bluetooth, mp3 player, micro SD card slot and so on. The main functions he would need would be the ability to call and text, which can be quite a learning curve to do for some. A $99 cheapy would have done this, but the rep. singled him and his (presumed) daughter out for punishment, just to make his commission bigger and/or to improve his sales stats, by taking advantage of him.

 

And therein lies my point. You're getting people who have had basic (by today's standards) technology all their lives, and now want (x) item just because they see their sons/grandsons/niece/nephews with this new technology and don't want to feel excluded, so they feel the need to purchase yet don't know what they're looking for, and that's when the hawks begin to circle.

 

Anyway on to some gaming. I've decided to undertake a "PS1" retro week. Starting tomorrow I'll post reader reviews and blogs with my thoughts and opinions on PS1 games I've brushed the dust off. Hopefully I should be able to provoke a few memories here and there. 

 

DAY 1: Hogs of War. 

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