> Did you ever get into a situation where you couldn't wait to see your bank statement?
Yes. As I mentioned, students and people on the edge of poverty must keep a vigilant watch on their bank balance, lest they literally run out of money (or hit an overdraft, or an overdraft limit, and therefore have to pay banking charges) while shopping.
> how much of the modern world is driven by manufactured demand?
Rent is expensive, and rather essential.
> Plenty of budgeting/accounting software out there (free software, even) that you can use to connect to your bank account.
Majority of banks where I am don't expose an API. CSV exports don't cut it on GNUCash, and I tried it.
> There is nothing "basic" about Uber and we could go by in any big city without it before 2010.
Please realise that black cabs and taxis cost a fortune in some cities. An extensive public transit network doesn't help at all if you're stuck at the edge of a city, the transit network has already shut down because it's 2am, and you don't have any family or friends nearby to rescue you. This has happened more than once to me, and in the pre-Uber era, my only choices would be to eat the huge cost of a taxi or spend the night sleeping/waiting it out on a bench until things reopen.
> There are free alternatives for Linux and ungoogled-android.
You cannot assume that. Your city has this, it doesn't mean that mine does.
> The problem is that you seem to be too quick to fold
You think I'm too quick to fold, but have you considered that I spent over a decade trying to defend my privacy? That I gave up many, many things, to the extent that family and friends who don't share my beliefs would think I'm weird if they knew the full extent of what I've done? Having a pain tolerance makes me human, not weak. And it's already much higher than the average person's.
Sorry, still seems like a lot of your argument is just trying to rationalize your decision to not get out of Android/iOS - which was the whole point of the conversation.
- Even if a bank does not have a mobile app, they still have a website which you can then access from any phone with a web browser. It does not depend on an Android/iOS app.
- Even if your city does not have an alternative app like Magic Earth (doubtful) you can just use the Google Maps website.
Yes. As I mentioned, students and people on the edge of poverty must keep a vigilant watch on their bank balance, lest they literally run out of money (or hit an overdraft, or an overdraft limit, and therefore have to pay banking charges) while shopping.
> how much of the modern world is driven by manufactured demand?
Rent is expensive, and rather essential.
> Plenty of budgeting/accounting software out there (free software, even) that you can use to connect to your bank account.
Majority of banks where I am don't expose an API. CSV exports don't cut it on GNUCash, and I tried it.
> There is nothing "basic" about Uber and we could go by in any big city without it before 2010.
Please realise that black cabs and taxis cost a fortune in some cities. An extensive public transit network doesn't help at all if you're stuck at the edge of a city, the transit network has already shut down because it's 2am, and you don't have any family or friends nearby to rescue you. This has happened more than once to me, and in the pre-Uber era, my only choices would be to eat the huge cost of a taxi or spend the night sleeping/waiting it out on a bench until things reopen.
> There are free alternatives for Linux and ungoogled-android.
You cannot assume that. Your city has this, it doesn't mean that mine does.
> The problem is that you seem to be too quick to fold
You think I'm too quick to fold, but have you considered that I spent over a decade trying to defend my privacy? That I gave up many, many things, to the extent that family and friends who don't share my beliefs would think I'm weird if they knew the full extent of what I've done? Having a pain tolerance makes me human, not weak. And it's already much higher than the average person's.