Flickety said 'while it solves one set of problems it produces others' to which I would add 'particularly when it breaks down'. We are just back from a weekend away which threw up some interesting challenges e.g. a multi storey car park where the get a ticket machine was 'out of order' on the top, 10th floor, necessitating a traffic dodging descent to 9th floor only to discover that machine wanted £8.20 in coin only (no 10p or 5p, no notes, no cards accepted, although apparently you could pay with a mobile phone - but not mine) so back up through the traffic to empty DH's pockets and find sufficient change (just) back down again and it did not like our only 20p until a young man advised me to lick it (yuck) and it worked. In town, our SatNav sent us in circles back to where we started because it could not cope with a temporary diversion. Found a cashline machine which had no cash and had to find another. No mobile reception in our room at the hotel, where the fancy coffee machine had broken, was fixed, broke down again, so three days of sachets of instant coffee and flask jugs of hot water. Asked at hotel if they could convert £20 note to £1 coins (for the car park) but they could only open the till if someone bought something. We were fine but other guests were complaining that the swipe cards for their rooms would not work. They were told that this was because they had put them in a pocket or handbag beside a mobile phone which allegedly scrambles the swipe card??
Just think of all the technology, designed to make life easier, which instead only serves to make life more difficult when it fdoes not work. Factor in someone who is elderly, confused or has failed to master the latest advances and simple tasks become impossible. I have no credit card of my own because I have no credit rating - not because I am feckless but because I have saved up in advance to buy major purchases. Thankfully, I have a 2nd card on my DH's account and can use that for transactions eg. hotel bookings, where only a credit card will do. Soon cheques are to be phased out. What are elderly people , who have never used credit/debit cards to do then? It is sometimes true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. All of us on Gransnet are computer literate, but out there there are thousands of grans/grandads who are not. I have never sent a text. I have been shown what to do but even with glasses I can hardly read the small digital print and arthritic fingers mean I am clumsy with the small buttons and I am only 66!
Nowadays a power cut effectively disables us all - No TV, No Computer, No cooking facilities, No heating, No charging of mobiles, etc. No petrol pumps, No kettle. Shops have to close because tills won't work. Please, please do not entrust the care of vulnerable people to the mercy of all too fallible technology.