Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by george_kaplan on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:31PM
(#14960992)
>I'd be interested in seeing stats on social media adoption in Germany, because my hypothesis is that they lag the rest of the world.
Not only do they lag in general, but I also remember a study which showed that in Germany higher education levels are associated with significantly less social media use, while it's quite the opposite in the rest of the world.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by true_religion on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:50PM
(#14961199)
That's true. The fastest growing social network within German universities was an anonymous one. This is opposed to the USA, where Facebook was the fastest growing network based on the ideal of knowing exactly what classes Y person on your campus went to.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by jshevek on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @03:58PM
(#14961885)
Does that social network still exist, and can you share its name please?
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by ahartmetz on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @05:26PM
(#14962903)
Jodel https://jodel-app.com/
I had it installed for a few days once. I decided to uninstall it because it took too much attention (there are MANY users in Berlin) and I kind of felt too old. The typical user is a student in the first few semesters.
If privacy is such a concern (and particularly privacy from one's own government), then the use of cash makes sense. My guess is that this distrust of government did grow from the abuses of domestic surveillance by the Nazi regime and East Germany. I'd be curious to see how this breaks down between the old east/west lines as well.
And I'm sure individuals don't use cash for these reasons; but because the system in Germany functions that way out of historical legacy. As a consumer, it's simply easier to buy things with cash.