Do You Get Self-Serve Anxiety?
How cost-saving "convenience" technologies exact a price on our mental health.
I’m quite a high-strung person, which means I am somewhat prone to anxiety that manifests as a constant, low-level sense of dread in my gut. A feeling that I have done something wrong, or forgotten something important, but I don’t know what. It’s not severe enough to prevent me from appearing generally happy, confident and productive but it upsets my stomach, disrupts my sleep and destroys my concentration. Or at least it did until a year ago when I cut my drinking in half, upped my exercise from one to four times per week and started taking half a Zoloft at bedtime. Since then I haven’t had the slightest pang of anxiety…until yesterday, when attempting to switch mobile phone providers.
Here’s the need-to-know. I am out of contract with Starhub and am massively overpaying for the service I use. My phone, which I have not upgraded for four years, can no longer hold a charge but I don’t need something with built-in AI and an 8k screen - I kinda resent my phone so I certainly don’t want to spend any more on it than I absolutely have to.
I did my research and decided to switch to a sim-only 100Gb plan on Circles.life that I can share with my daughter, and purchase a lower-spec handset direct from Samsung on a 0% interest plan with a trade-in deal, all of which should bring my overall monthly bill down from $140 to $$28 with nothing to pay up front but…
I needed a few other bits from Samsung, a new laptop charger, cable and headphones. Samsung doesn’t sell Galaxy laptops in Singapore, I bought mine from America, so I wasn’t sure what the right charger/cable combo would be or even if they had the right one. The local website didn’t help so I popped down to the shop to ask an actual human who was so helpful I purchased my accessories right then and there from him. This also gave me a chance to test out my desired new handset but, unfortunately, he couldn’t offer me the 0% interest free payment plan in the shop so I went home to purchase it online.
At home I selected my preferred colour and memory size, added my trade-in device, a Samsung+ care package and checked out. But where was the interest free installment option? I couldn’t find it anywhere so I cleared my basket and started again from scratch, hit the checkout key and, again, no interest free option. I searched Samsung, Google and even Chat GPT for answers but found none. All I wanted was to ask the man in the shop again, “Am I doing this right?”, but I couldn’t because e-commerce is not his department.
Never mind I thought, it must come up at the payment screen, so I went ahead with payment and handed over the best part of a monkey (cockney slang for 500 notes). WTF? Where was my promised interest free payment option? Why couldn’t I find out? Why couldn’t anyone help me? That little dread monster in my gut started to stir.
Frustrated I headed over to the Circles.life site to check on how that transaction was doing. I was keen on the idea that my daughter and I could share a single data package over two sim-cards but I can only port my number over to one sim-card so, how can I port hers over to the other sim-card, or must she adopt a new number? More questions without online answers and no one real to talk to (Circles.life is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator or MVNO so it has no stores). The cost for the second sim was just $14 (I think, it’s complicated), so I threw my hands up and just decided to take the risk and try it. Once again I felt that little dread monster begin to growl.
Technology is a miracle and e-commerce undoubtedly saved lives during the pandemic but increasingly the burden of service is falling to the consumer and it’s a problem. From self-service websites to self-service check-outs we are wholly reliant on only our selves to work out how every new terminal and technology works, wondering if we’re getting it right, making the right decision, missing out on a better option or simply taking too long and holding up the line at M&S!
When we get it wrong we can fall into self-recrimination and blame ourselves for not getting something we’ve never done before, or do rarely, right first time - but when the consequences can be so expensive it’s understandable. At times like these I think we’d all appreciate a helping hand from a human expert.
Case in point, I finally found some small print on the Samsung website confirming that purchases under $500 do not qualify for the interest free installment plan. If I had known this I would either have declined the trade-in, which brought the total down or, more smartly, taken the sales clerks advice but bought my charger, cable and headphones online so the total transaction came to over $500 even with the trade-in. Overall I have spent nearly $700 with Samsung in under 24 hours but it makes no difference to them because their online and #IRL stores have nothing to do with each other so I’m out of pocket and left feeling like an anxious fool.
Another example if you’ll indulge me; my aging parents live in the UK where parking apps are now all the rage, but of course every carpark company has its own app which means they now need to download a new one almost every time they visit a new lot. In the name of “convenience” all Brits now need to use their mobile data (assuming they have it), on their smartphone (assuming they have one), to fill out their credentials (which are not always secure), including all credit card details (assuming they have one), and accept potentially egregious terms and conditions (too long and impenetrable to read, especially on a phone screen outdoors), just to park their car. Oh, and if there is no signal or the mobile network is down allow me to quote De Niro’s character Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, “Fuck you, pay me!”
Age UK states "39% of over 65s don't feel confident using a smartphone", and struggle to deal with problems such as poor network connectivity, yet there are an estimate 30 parking apps in use across country.
Another survey of 1,387 British motorists conducted by Autocar shows that 83% of the people surveyed want to see the end of parking apps citing concerns over the prospect of fraud and needless complexity.
The Conservative government pledged to create a single National Parking Platform by autumn 2024 but they’re out, Labour are in and I haven’t heard mention of it yet so I shan’t hold my breath but I still worry about my parents.
Anyway, back to Singapore where we thankfully do have a national parking app and ERP system and senior citizens can access free in-person tech help from SG Digital Community Hubs. Nonetheless, we are still seeing creeping self-service not actually in the name of “convenience” but “profiteering”. Because how can it be more convenient for you to check out and bag your own shopping, or order your own food via an antisocial QR code that makes your feel stupid and anxious when you don’t get it right?
Recommendations To Relax You
I discovered a new podcast this week called The Asian Bookshelf co-hosted by acclaimed Asian-based writers T.A.Morton and Jon Gresham, and educator and presenter Devika Misra. Only nine episodes in it explores Southeast Asian fiction and nonfiction books: what works for readers and why; movie and streaming potential, emerging trends, and spotlights key industry figures and it’s a great way to discover new and interesting local literature.
Immediately after listening to the latest episode of TAB, and having recently contributed to a story about the mistreatment of actors in Singapore, I couldn’t resist ordering ‘Dirty Old Media Men’ by Millie Lee from local imprint Epigram Books. It’s a fictional memoir of a young woman in Singapore trying to make it in a sexist and misogynist man’s media world, but funny! Order yours here: https://epigrambookshop.sg/products/dirty-old-media-men.
And finally, Linying has a weird as hell new video out to accompany her quirky Britpop-with-Scary-Monsters-era-Bowie-guitars new single Donovan - love it!
That’ll do ya, have a great week! Nx