QR codes - plague or benefit

DOCCOX

Thanks to the Pandemic and increasing age we have not got out a lot but notice the ubiquity of QR codes. Very well if you have a smartphone which is equipped with a safe reader and you have access to the internet. On our recent travels we noticed menus in hotels and onboard cruise ships seem to have been replaced by little cubes of paper or screens on which QR codes have been printed. Sometimes you can actually get a proper menu and in worst cases you cannot even order except via a system involving a QR code ( particularly in Hong Kong) what are others view of this pernicious trend which penalises the elderly o ( and also in many cases younger people where fraud can occur)

Sea_Shell

I'm not on contract, so don't have data on whilst out and about.

It would annoy me intensely to HAVE to use QR codes for everything. 

They risk being fake too, especially in public places, as they can be stickered over, leading you to false websites!!

I'm not that old either (52😉)

It's the way the world's going though, so at some point we're going to have to suck it up! ☹️

elsien

I seem to manage to get by just fine without using them. I’ve come across where you had to use a QR code was a Japanese restaurant. 

Contacted them to explain that if they wanted people to come in, they needed a menu and prices in the window because most people in my area are not going to be scanning QR codes to see if they can afford to go there or not. After several very quiet weeks, they did indeed start using printed information as well.

But I can honestly say that if I hadn’t had a smart phone, I wouldn’t have been impacted so far. Nor has  85 year old parent who is perfectly capable of scanning a QR code should the need ever arise. 

IvanOpinion

Sometimes I use them, sometimes I don't.
I have found them handy on multiple occasions.
I see them as a welcome addition to the toolkit of options that we have to complete tasks.

ThumbRemote

Does it penalise the elderly, or does it just penalise those who refuse to learn to use the internet?

Pollycat

ThumbRemote said:

Does it penalise the elderly, or does it just penalise those who refuse to learn to use the internet?

I do wish people would stop saying "technology penalises the elderly" (as the OP has done).

Andy_L

It amuses me that our local petrol station has posters on the pumps advertising their fleet fuel card with a QR code on them right next to the sign saying not to use your mobile on the forecourt

MattMattMattUK

DOCCOX said:

Thanks to the Pandemic and increasing age we have not got out a lot but notice the ubiquity of QR codes. Very well if you have a smartphone which is equipped with a safe reader and you have access to the internet. On our recent travels we noticed menus in hotels and onboard cruise ships seem to have been replaced by little cubes of paper or screens on which QR codes have been printed. Sometimes you can actually get a proper menu and in worst cases you cannot even order except via a system involving a QR code ( particularly in Hong Kong) what are others view of this pernicious trend which penalises the elderly o ( and also in many cases younger people where fraud can occur)

Firstly it is not pernicious, second it does not penalise the elderly.

It is a good thing, it reduces paper (and often plastic as well) use, which is beneficial for the environment, it makes it easy for things to be kept up to date (I have seen quite a few instances that show something on the virtual menu is out of stock, or only had X left etc.).

Albermarle

in worst cases you cannot even order except via a system involving a QR code ( particularly in Hong Kong) 

I understand that the Chinese ( maybe all of Far East) have really absorbed tech into their lives to a much greater extent than even we have. I was reading that even stall holders only accept payment by phone for example.

I have found QR codes handy/short cut for certain things, but would be unhappy to be presented with one in a restaurant instead of a menu !

TMSG

I agree that this tech (as most others) does not in itself penalise the elderly per se. What these things often do, though, is to penalise those who are not "tech savvy" (especially if the tech in question is badly implemented as is too often the case... looking at you, gov.uk). And somehow many (though by no means all) of those not "tech savvy" are indeed... elderly. I also recognise that many elderly are tech savvy; I'm an ex-software engineer in my mid-60s and I've got no problems with tech. (Famous last words.)

As to QR codes, they can be a good thing for certain types of activity but there have been some cases already where QR codes have been manipulated and given that this is relatively easy to do (eg by simply pasting a new QR code label over the genuine one), I'd never ever pay anything via a QR code I've just scanned w/o double-checking that the site shown is indeed genuine... which of course defeats the purpose of the whole thing.

amanda1024

‘Quishing’ seems to be the new ‘phishing’, so there is increasing awareness of the need to be cautious and not just scan any old code. Despite being tech-savvy, I find it frustrating trying to look at long menus on tiny phone screens, particularly when the site doesn’t seem particularly well optimised for mobile. Eg the QR will link to a pdf which was clearly designed to be printed in A4. For changeable menus or to update with availability, there’s always the good old blackboard!

I was recently in Indonesia, where lots of locals pay via QRIS - in fact visa/mastercard sometimes seemed less likely to be accepted.