Does it worry you....?

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

The pandemic is a vehicle for massive social change.....the politicians have a sinister agenda.....vaccinate, track, get rid of cash....allowing banks to control your money, because if they do that they control YOU.

https://www.positivemoney.eu/digital-euro/


Lagarde says the eu could turn to using an "Electronic €", they'll put it to the people, (And as long as the response is the right one) to decide. They also mentioned coins & notes would remain. (yeah, but for how long?)

[Margaret Pilkington]

That would worry me.
It takes no account of those who are not internet savvy(this tends to be the elderly) and those on very limited budgets.
When you have real cash money in your purse.....and you know this is all you have, you know when the purse is empty your spending power is done.
It is far harder to keep track of your spending on a card....especially if you have no mobile device to track your money.
There is also the concern of security of your cash....getting scammed.
It marginalises those who are already marginalised.....and it puts power into the hands of unscrupulous bankers.

[taddy]

[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1245323]That would worry me.
It takes no account of those who are not internet savvy(this tends to be the elderly)

Ha, Ha, This seems like a dig at the Lancashire Luddite,not Internet savvy,(ok).
Elderly, (Maybe) but age is all in the mind, on the outside I am 73 years old, on the inside I am 21 years old and getting younger the more my good lady looks after me,plus a Hobgoblin or two dosn't do me any harm.
Your's (jokingly), The Luddite.

[Margaret Pilkington]

No Taddy, definitely not a dig at you.
We have in our street several old folk(over 80)...none of them have smartphones....a couple of them do not have mobiles at all a couple of them have old phones ...no internet capacity.
I have sorted things out for them on my internet(reported faults on their boilers, on their land lines, things like that).
There are a couple of oldies who have needed to get exemption from masks lanyards, but have not been able to do it for themselves...so I have done that for them.

When Jim(my next door neighbour) was alive he was astonished at what I could do on my iPad(we facetimed his grand-daughter when she was working in Spain and he could not believe that he could see her and speak to her).....but to do this for himself it was beyond him.

Technology has its benefits, but it also has its dangers and its downsides, and these older folk have really been left behind.
Banks, utility companies, things we all need to have access to do not really take this into consideration and every new technological development leaves these people further behind and out of the picture.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Oh and you are right about age being all in the mind. I am 73 in years, but my mental age is about 14.
I never let anything to do with age put me off...well except I would not try to climb everest( iget dizzy on a deep carpet)...I know my limitations and that is nowt to do with age...I would not have doneit at 16.

[dotti34]

Regarding age, I think it’s best to just forget your birth year and do what your body and mind are capable of doing, and want to do. It’s hard to accept one’s age when the mind is not agreeing with the actual fact (that is if mirror evidence is ignored). Personally my mind is sure I’m only about 23 though my body belies that fact by definitely showing many signs of 86 years of wear and tear. (There, I’ve admitted to it!). I saw an elderly woman the other day walking along quite slowly, using a walking frame. I said to my friend ‘look at that poor old dear’. My friend looked at me and laughed…..enough said!

[dotti34]

Margaret, you are so right regarding not everyone being able to deal with modern technology, not everyone can afford it. Not everyone is comfortable with it either and would much prefer to stick to what they know best. Maybe a little bit apprehensive and even a bit frightened of it all. Thankfully I have been able to (reasonably) keep up with such things but I can empathise with those who haven’t. It must be very hard for them and they should be shown consideration.

[dotti34]

As for a cashless society. It’s too easy to swipe (or tap) a card, and easier still to lose track of spending. Anyway, cash has a much better feel than a bit of plastic. Being cashless doesn’t always pay off, pardon the (sort of) pun. There was a glitch in the banking system here a little while ago and all the ATMs and EFTPOS were out of action for several hours. Panic stations, what a to-do. Those people who refuse to carry cash were well and truly you-know-what. The plastic brigade was left in limbo, while those who still used actual money were able to go about their business (and pleasure) as usual. It might not happen often but it does happen.

[monkey hanger]

[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1245323]That would worry me.
It takes no account of those who are not internet savvy(this tends to be the elderly) and those on very limited budgets.

the elderly might not be internet savvy but the younger end that are cannot hold a light to us when we have to add up the cost of a few articles in a shop. as for money the only time i have been scammed was uafter using my card. went through my life before this without having my pocket pinched.

[taddy]

[QUOTE=monkey hanger;1245365]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

That would worry me.
It takes no account of those who are not internet savvy(this tends to be the elderly) and those on very limited budgets.

the elderly might not be internet savvy but the younger end that are cannot hold a light to us when we have to add up the cost of a few articles in a shop. as for money the only time i have been scammed was uafter using my card. went through my life before this without having my pocket pinched.

Talking about cards, I called into the Whittakers Arms for a pint(s) the other day, the young lass who came to serve me; (no standing at the bar, table service only by the way) asked if I was paying by card, I said "by gum lass, if ever I have to pay for my ale with piece of plastic I will stop suppin". I don't know whether it was the comment or the Lancashire accent that tickled her, but she gave me the father of all smiles and replied thank you for that Sir.

[cashman]

Thing is not internet savvy is correct with many older people, I Remember a doctor 20 yrs back that also thought older ones were no use and costly, so he bumped them off, i honestly reckon the internet giants are using a similar logic to Shipman. who they only caught cos of a badly forged will.he may still have been at it now but for that,

[Margaret Pilkington]

You know Cashy, I think you could be right.
Organisations continue to pander to those who use smart phones, but seem to forget that their foundations were built by the people who they now make life harder and harder for.
The old folk who live in my street not only don't have the internet, but do not have plastic debit cards that you can just swipe and go.
Why is that?
It is because they do not trust them....at all.
They worry about the fact that they could be robbed of their limited cash by someone unscrupulous.....either from the shop they are buying from or someone they do not know.
They trundle down to the post office weekly with their Post Office account card, they tap in their number(and even this is hard for some of them, both the trip and having to remember a number) they get cash for their everyday needs and they can perhaps pay a bill over the counter.

This was how my Mum dealt with things.
She only got a current bank account with a debit card when she was 88... three years before she died.
Yes she had a saving account....with a pass book, but that was no good for dealing with financial transactions.
The bank that she used really did not want to be bothered with her difficulties with her financial doings....and encouraged me to get power of attorney.
She dealt in cash....she felt comfortable with cash. She knew where she was with cash and she looked after it like it was her heart.
Thank goodness she is no longer around to see what a mess life has become.
(And I mean that in the sense of she would have worried about where society is going.....not that I do not miss her....I do)

[cashman]

yeh know Margaret i thought that for a long while, very few bother at all about old people and cetainly those who run banks and stuff like that.

[Less]

I wonder, is this how it was way back in prehistory when the barter system was first replaced by money?

All the old folk full of distrust for this new fangled system and refusing to have anything to do with it.

Nancy (who has grown to the grand old age of 39 very old for those disease ridden days) starts the conversation,

'well I'm having nowt to do with it, these coin things introduced by them banker chappies I just can't trust a man what uses parchment instead of a traditional dock leaf to wipe his ring clean, t'ain't natural how can we smell them getting close? nope twill be the day hell freezes over before I use pounds shilling and pence'.

George pulls his ricket ravaged body of 43 to it's full height of four foot eleven (a giant of a man by any of the days standards), 'well o'course you all know me never too old to try something new but by lucifer I went into the coaching inn not more n' a year ago and that serving wench asked if i would be paying with cash?'.

'Cash? CASH? Says I, I turns to this handmaid and says Well lass if I can't buy my mead with a bushel o' corn and three eggs like my father afore me I'll start drinking from the village pond and catch the disease what killed the other thirteen members of this thriving City.

Basically, change isn't always bad, how we adapt to it though, can be.

[cashman]

Change is not bad at all but there is no consideration for older people by those who make changes in many cases,