# Most gratuitous use of technology… **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955 "2024-04-06T21:34:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/1 "2024-04-06T21:34:35Z")
Saw this today: ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/2 "2024-04-06T21:44:29Z")
I mean, yeah, it’s excessive. But at least it has some potential positive uses. You can update pricing, and it has you talking about (and sharing) it. It irritated me less than the occasional gas stations that still have a small TV (on the pump) that plays while you’re fueling - it’s not only gratuitous, but actively annoying and does nothing but try to sell you stuff. Which, is the point from the POV of the company owning the pump, but… ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/3 "2024-04-06T22:15:21Z")
Could the OP please post some text explaining what the matter is? Not everyone can or wants to play a video. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/4 "2024-04-06T22:21:36Z")
The price display has annoying visual spam, including animation, instead of remaining static. In the same annoying family seen at bus stops, storefronts, billboards… it’s not always trivial for the socially conscientious passer-by to remotely hack in and turn the display off, either. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/5 "2024-04-06T22:26:43Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Could the OP please post some text explaining what the matter is? > > Not everyone can or wants to play a video. It’s some sort of meta critique where instead having a typical opening post where the author explains their thoughts, they’ve instead given us a link to video. Thus indicating the utter futility of rejecting gratuitous technology from our lives. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/6 "2024-04-06T22:41:32Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Not everyone can or wants to play a video. Because they don’t want to put in the time commitment for the seven seconds of the video? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/7 "2024-04-06T22:43:53Z")
Looks like _fumes_ Maybe it’s a warning? Remember how novel and oh so cool those running ticker tape signs were. Yeah baby. I lost sleep over that. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/8 "2024-04-06T23:26:32Z")
I like it. I mean, fuck it. We’re living in a crapsack dystopian future anyway, can’t we have a few touches of the cool, colorful future we hoped we’d get? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/9 "2024-04-07T00:20:33Z")
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a novel. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/10 "2024-04-07T00:52:26Z")
Don’t forget that soon those shelf-front displays will all be talking. And watching you. And sending “Great Deal on Bleach; I’t right behind you!” texts to your phone every few seconds… But I agree it would not have hurt my feelings had the OP invested one more sentence: “Those things along the front of each shelf where the prices tags usually are is instead now an active computer display.” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/11 "2024-04-07T01:20:30Z")
I don’t mind the electronic price displays that sit there and display the price unobtrusively and don’t try to blink, move, animate, or otherwise catch my attention; those are fine. Audible spam (I’ve certainly heard it) is right out, but I’m OK with this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gcU7ZlnJFPE/hqdefault.jpg "Sounds for the Supermarket (1975) -Grocery Store Music (Full Album, High Quality)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcU7ZlnJFPE) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/12 "2024-04-07T02:05:21Z")
How about replacing freezer doors with Big Brother TVs? > **[AI-Powered Smart Screens Coming to In-Store Points of Sale](https://progressivegrocer.com/ai-powered-smart-screens-coming-store-points-sale)** > > Cooler Screens' new software anticipates shopper needs ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/13 "2024-04-07T02:22:39Z")
In that thumbnail, we’re not seeing product through the doors; we’re seeing pictures of the product the screen assumes lies behind there. No way that could go wrong. The third time I e.g. pull open the door whose screen is full of Coke products but the actual cold shelving behind is full of Pepsi, I won’t be happy, Coke won’t be happy, Pepsi won’t be happy, and the 3 of us will make that store & their HQ really, really miserable. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2024, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/14 "2024-04-07T02:28:28Z")
Some ticky tocky videos of the screens here. One video shows a door with an error message where you aren’t supposed to open the door because the TV isn’t working. The person opens the door anyway and food is in the freezer. > **[Digital screens are covering cooler doors at stores like Kroger and...](https://www.businessinsider.com/cooler-screens-make-it-harder-to-shop-tiktokers-say-2023-9)** > > Cooler screens are becoming more common at Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, and other retailers. But shoppers on TikTok say they're making it harder to go grocery shopping. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/15 "2024-04-08T00:50:34Z")
At first I thought, well, maybe that saves energy because people are not opening and closing the cooler doors as much. Umm… no. If you can see it, open the door and get it. This is a waste of energy for sure. It does create pointless useless jobs though. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/16 "2024-04-08T01:44:34Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > It irritated me less than the occasional gas stations that still have a small TV (on the pump) that plays while you’re fueling - it’s not only gratuitous, but actively annoying and does nothing but try to sell you stuff. Which, is the point from the POV of the company owning the pump, but… Around here the only stations that did that were Esso, the Canadian version of Exxon. It was indeed annoying and they must have gotten a lot of complaints, because the practice was discontinued. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/17 "2024-04-08T02:08:03Z")
The few stations around here w advertising screens on their gas pumps seem to be letting them die of attrition. Any that have their face to the Sun all afternoon are fried; the audio is as infuriating as ever but the video is all but invisible. Which is an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/18 "2024-04-08T03:02:33Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > [@ftg](#): > > > > Not everyone can or wants to play a video. > > Because they don’t want to put in the time commitment for the seven seconds of the video? Because video displays are sometimes annoying – oh, and this video display of an annoying video display…well, I guess that makes its point, eh? Annoying! Yeah, I agree with the OP: Just let me know the price, will ya? I don’t need or want to be enthralled, I just wanna get my garbage, pay for it, and leave. –G! ---
**Author:** ![Mnemnosyne](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mnemnosyne/32/3347_2.png) [@Mnemnosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnemnosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/19 "2024-04-08T03:16:53Z")
It actually looks pretty neat, except right at the beginning, where no prices are displayed. The animations to look pretty are nice, and I don’t even mind the presence of ads for other products (the same product?) on the parts of the display that aren’t busy showing me the price, but if the functionality of ‘see the price of the product on the shelf above’ isn’t present at **any time,** then we have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955/20 "2024-04-08T03:27:29Z")
I’d argue if it isn’t present 100% of the time, that can only be from an intent to defraud the customer. Not interested one little bit in starting down that road. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-gratuitous-use-of-technology/999955.md?page=2)