‘We are being forced to fork out for new smartphones against our better judgment’

• AFTER reading P Martin’s letter (A simple life is under attack, March 1) I want to add my voice to any campaign to resist compulsory use of technology.

Unlike P Martin I’ve used a smartphone for 12 years and I’ve programmed computers for 45 years. But I share all of the concerns about a digital society because I’m fully aware of the shortcomings of computer systems and their ever-changing user interfaces.

Understandably the most vocal objectors to impersonal, online, services are the older generations.

The online world is alien to most of them and it’s an insult to all the social skills they’ve developed and relied upon throughout their lifetimes.

However I’m even more concerned about the younger generations who are sleepwalking towards a future that will be controlled by corporate giants.

Every time people use a self-service till they probably save a few precious minutes in their hectic day.

In the short term, it feels like a quick win but they are helping to put people out of constructive work and in the longer term they could be consigning themselves to a prolonged retirement in solitary confinement.

They are spoon-feeding the fat cats with statistics they desperately need in order to justify more job cuts and automation.

The perceived migration from staffed tills to self-service gadgets is not a natural one; we are being forced into it by senior bosses who are deliberately degrading the traditional model.

Likewise we are being forced to fork out for new smartphones against our better judgment simply because the technology giants have engineered built-in obsolescence for products we’ve been locked into.

The younger generations are more exposed than their predecessors to these traps because they currently feel comfortable with the technology. But that could all change in the years ahead when the prices spiral and the novelty of learning new technical skills every couple of years has worn off.

So, please, whether you are young or old, try to resist the online and self-service processes wherever possible, as there will be no turning back once enough of us are captive.

IAN SHACKLOCK, N4