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Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by tgsovlerkhgsel on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @08:48AM (#31653422)
> Second, if you had actually suffered such a loss, your digital life would hopefully be the last thing on your mind

It isn't though. Access to your digital resources is vital to recover from the loss. You need an e-mail address to arrange contractors, you need your contact list to reach out to friends for help, you need access to your bank accounts, your cloud-stored scans of your ID cards, ...

Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by reaperducer on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @09:20AM (#31653844)
You need an e-mail address to arrange contractors

No. People have been trained to think they need an e-mail address for real-life things, but they don't.

I had a roof replaced in my last place, which involved multiple contractors and insurance companies. No e-mail. No text messaging involved.

I recently moved to a new city, and setting up utilities, dry cleaning service, parking garage, etc... probably involved a dozen new accounts. I gave my e-mail address to none of them. Depending on the disposition of the provider, I either told them I hadn't set up e-mail yet since I moved, or just a flat "no."

you need your contact list to reach out to friends for help

If you're over 40, you can remember the days when it was perfectly ordinary to remember the phone numbers for dozens and dozens of people and businesses. These days, we've allowed computers to think and remember for us (hello, Stackoverflow!) so we don't have to. Memory is a normal skill that many people have lost or neglected.

you need access to your bank accounts

That's why it's important to have your bank accounts with an actual bank, with actual branches, and actual human beings to help you when human being things go wrong in the real world.

your cloud-stored scans of your ID cards

I can't even wrap my brain around why you'd trust information this important to a rental computer a thousand miles away.

"Everything digital" is a marketing tool. In reality, it only works when it works. When things go wrong, digital shows its fragility.

Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by basisword on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @09:27AM (#31653959)
>> If you're over 40, you can remember the days when it was perfectly ordinary to remember the phone numbers for dozens and dozens of people and businesses. These days, we've allowed computers to think and remember for us (hello, Stackoverflow!) so we don't have to. Memory is a normal skill that many people have lost or neglected.

Heck, if you're over 30 you remember this. The problem though is that you remembered those numbers because you dialled them frequently from memory (and, at least in my location, landline numbers were much shorter than cell phone numbers). If you're not doing this on your smartphone you're never going to be able to remember the numbers. e.g. I can remember all of my childhood friends home phone numbers. I can't remember my partners cell phone number.

I recently considered getting an analogue phone book and noting down all the numbers in my smartphone contacts book just in case I ever lost access to the digital version.

Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by grogenaut on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @11:04AM (#31655416)
You likely still have a printer. Print out your contacts and toss them in a safe
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by basisword on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @11:22AM (#31655700)
Yep good call. I just realised the Mac contacts app lets you export it to a nice PDF I can print.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by brnt on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @11:45AM (#31656017)
> People have been trained to think they need an e-mail address for real-life things, but they don't.

The Dutch government not only defacto requires it, soon an Android or iOS phone with their app will be required too. Only very determined, very patient people with lots or spare time will be able to do without.

Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by reaperducer on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @01:19PM (#31657430)
The Dutch government not only defacto requires it, soon an Android or iOS phone with their app will be required too

What do poor people do? Or the very elderly? Or those with diminished mental abilities? Or people whose culture eschews technology?

Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by vkou on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @08:34PM (#31661794)
I assume they do the same thing as anyone else in any other country does. They go through the fall-back bureaucratic channel of 'haul your ass over to a physical, brick-and-mortar agency office'.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by brnt on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @01:50PM (#31657835)
They get screwed, in most cases.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by paganel on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @05:04PM (#31660038)
The Dutch people should probably protest against measures like those.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by brnt on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @05:21PM (#31660229)
They don't, because they are largely anti-luddites.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by jay_kyburz on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @06:32PM (#31660848)
I was thinking about this on the way home the other day. I'm the most tech savvy of all my family and friends. I live and breath tech. Code all day, game all night.

But I'm the one who hates all smart home devices. I'm the one who wants a dumb TV. I would be perfectly happy with my dumb phone if it didn't keep pocket dialing emergency services.

I want less tech in my life not more.

Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by 10u152 on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @07:32PM (#31661337)
I'm in a similar spot and have an ancient, dumb plasma TV on its last legs. I've poured HOURS into researching a replacement dumb TV that is reasonably cost effective and available. It's way too hard. I can get commercial displays from Samsung that are about 50% more expensive than consumer grade and about 4 years behind in picture/quality but that's about it.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by ieatfood on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @11:02PM (#31662699)
I just never gave my TV the wifi password.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by foobarbecue on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @09:31AM (#31654017)
Pretend he said "phone unlock code" instead of email password. It's 2022. Everything is digital. Auth is essential.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by ghaff on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @09:48AM (#31654262)
Phones break and get lost/stolen.

All of us--and I include myself although I try to have some backup information on paper--have probably become too dependent on a single physical device which sucks in more and more information every year. See ongoing digitization of driver's licenses.

Especially for international travel, but really generally, I try to make it so I'm not completely screwed if something were to happen to my phone.

Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by avh02 on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @09:55AM (#31654340)
I try to still print out boarding passes when I can cos I don't want to deal with delays or missing a flight if my phone runs out of battery, especially if it's a flight out after a full day out and about. It's also less annoying at the airport fiddling with my phone to get the right barcode up each time it's needed (and no, I won't put it in to Google wallet)
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by ghaff on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @10:00AM (#31654421)
I don't go out of way to print boarding passes when I'm on the road. But certainly at home, it takes maybe a minute so why not?
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by ska on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @12:08PM (#31656403)
I stopped doing this when I realized I hadn't used a single paper one in about 50 flights.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by reaperducer on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @01:20PM (#31657446)
You'll start doing it again after someone swipes your phone at the airport (yes, this still happens) and you miss your plane waiting in line to deal with the customer service agents.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by ska on Wednesday June 08, 2022 @09:47AM (#31667284)
I guess that depends on airport. Typically I could get a paper one printed at kiosk using ID if needed, usually 10 min or less. One of the reasons I stopped bothering.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by ddingus on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @11:10AM (#31655515)
Same. Paper has no downtime.
Re:I've locked myself out of my digital life by foobarbecue on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @09:55AM (#31654337)
Yes, the "one device per phone number" restriction is quite annoying. I'd like to have multiple, functional copies of my phone. Instead I settle for a phone and a 4G watch, paying for one phone number for each. Since eSIM providers allow cloning but I haven't tried that yet.