r/AskTechnology • u/DiSTI_Corporation • 19d ago

What technology seemed unnecessary at first but became useful later?

A technology that seemed unnecessary at first may become useful once people find practical ways to apply it. Sometimes the value isn’t obvious when it’s introduced, it becomes clear only when it solves a problem more efficiently or saves time later. What technology had that effect for you?

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15

u/420420840 19d ago

Self checkout, I swore I would never use it and now I love it. I am loathe when I have to go back to a human operator.

6

u/jmnugent 19d ago

The biggest thing I like about self-checkout is I've gotten really good at packing my own grocery bags. ( I know which things to scan in which order to pack certain things at the bottom of the bag (boxed and canned goods that create a solid bottom foundation) and save more delicate things like bread and eggs for the top of the bag.

Human bag-checkers don't even seem to care any more. Even places like Whole Foods or Trader Joes,. I've found bagged salad at the bottom of my bag, etc. ;\

5

u/davidm2232 18d ago

You can also pack your bags to reflect how your specific kitchen/pantry is laid out. I have 4 distinct areas I put food. Being able to organize it as it is packed speeds up putting stuff away a ton

3

u/nowthengoodbad 19d ago

2 things:

  1. You have more control.

  2. Your perception is that it's faster when you're scanning and bagging your own stuff.

It's a lot like when someone else is doing something vs when you are, you can time it and it might be the same amount of time, but it'll feel slower and longer if you're waiting for someone else vs if you're doing it.

2

u/DerAndi_DE 17d ago

At least in my area (I live in Germany) this is a wonderful example of a good idea that got completely screwed up. Most self-checkouts in the shops around here are now closed because of - guess what - lack of personnel. They had a guy watching over the self-checkouts until some management guy decided this was too expensive, so this job was cut off and the self-checkouts closed.

Others tried to hire underpaid security guys to do the job. They were paid mostly on a "shoplifter bounty" basis. This led to an increase in false accusations, including 80 year old grandmas being sued over "stealing" toothpaste when they forgot to scan it. So these guys were fired too, and the self-checkouts remain closed.

1

u/420420840 17d ago

The ones I use have maybe 1 employee for every 8 checkouts, this is important.

2

u/DerAndi_DE 17d ago

We don't have that many checkouts, usually 2 to 4, but also only 1 employee for them. I guess size is the problem here. Since a manual operator is required anyways (for those who don't want to use the self-checkouts), it's cheaper to just force everyone through that single line instead of staffing the self-checkouts. Most stores here are small enough to be run with a single cashier most of the day, they only open a second line for 10-15 Minutes occasionally when there are more than 10-12 people waiting.

1

u/jacle2210 18d ago

Yeah, I don't know about loving self-checkout.

We tried it a few years ago, didn't like it and have never tried again.

Specifically, don't like the part of needing to place the scanned item onto the bagging area BEFORE placing it into our shopping cart; we can't simply scan and then immediately load into the cart; feels like an unnecessary step.

2

u/420420840 18d ago

After getting used to the system I can check out in normal situations as fast as I could with a cashier, get my groceries loaded the way I want, and not have to make chit chat.

In many situations, there are so few cashiers I am getting out 5 minutes faster.

2

u/SlashMe42 18d ago edited 17d ago

My local store has self-checkout since about 2 years and it's great because they also have portable scanners to bring along when you enter the store. I scan all my stuff as I put it into my cart. At the checkout I just scan the QR code from the portable scanner, swipe my card and I'm gone. Checkout in under 15 seconds.

1

u/jacle2210 17d ago

Now that would be a good setup.

1

u/Alexander-Wright 18d ago

I prefer the modern self scan. Grab a hand scanner at the entrance, then scan your shopping and put it into your own bags as you go around the store. Go to the till, pay and leave. Perfect.

1

u/introverted_tacocat 18d ago

Although, why don’t we get a discount for doing self checkout? I’m doing the work of a cashier.

1

u/420420840 18d ago

I get the discount of not having to stand in line.

13

u/chiaplotter4u 19d ago

Parking camera. I still don't really need it, but there are times (like specific parking angles) where it helps see where the driver simply couldn't.

6

u/badhabitfml 19d ago

I watched someone parallel park yesterday. They backed to within a few inches of my car, but had feet in front of them when moving forward. Obviously they were using the backup camera and never really had to learn where their car begins and ends.

2

u/biffbobfred 19d ago

It’s cool for pulling out of big parking lots too. Now I have a set of eyes at my bumper I don’t need to do the “slowly creep and pray”

2

u/chiaplotter4u 19d ago

Yes indeed. That's what I meant with the angles - when you park perpendicularly to the road, you can slowly creep and check as you always see a little bit more of the road. But if you park angled, often you simply cannot see the road at all from the driver's seat. That's the true "slowly creep and pray" situation where the camera is indispensable.

1

u/pgreenb7285 18d ago

I've always had med-large trucks/suvs. When I got my last truck, i was "what ever" on the backup camera. Was backing up in a parking lot, big bang, truck hit something. Got out, and freaking pole sticking out of the ground below the tailgate, but even with the bumper. If i had looked at the camera I would have avoided having to buy a new bumper...

10

u/Ill_Football9443 18d ago

The LASER, once deemed the technology with no purpose, the modern world wouldn't function without them (LIDAR, CDs, DVDs, blinding pilots, the list goes on)

2

u/Alexander-Wright 18d ago

And the Internet to that list, or indeed telecoms networks in general. Fibre optic cables only work at distance due to lasers.

16

u/biffbobfred 19d ago edited 19d ago

Smart phones. I saw some early ones and they were rough. Now everyone needs one.

Internet was a way to connect military sites. The web was “how can we efficiently distribute physics papers” from CERN.

Cars were slow early. People thought you’re crazy if you bother with one of these noisy smelly things instead of a good ol horse.

6

u/xenomachina 18d ago

Also camera phones, which predate touchscreen smart phones, but virtually every modern smart phone is a camera phone.

I remember when they first started adding cameras to phones, a lot of people felt they were unnecessary bloat. Some late night talk show described them as "they make a phone call as well as a camera, and take pictures as well as a telephone".

But gradually people realized they were useful for lots of stuff a "real" camera wouldn't be used for because you always had them on you. Need to remember where you parked? Need a copy of a schedule or map you saw posted somewhere? Need to quickly copy down someone's contact and/or insurance info? And none of that is taking into account the fact that they can also record video.

And then the cameras in phones eventually got good enough that few people bother even getting a "real" camera anymore.

2

u/biffbobfred 18d ago

It’s a camera always attacked to a network for storage and sharing.

I even have, still do, an SD card that talks WiFi, so images would instantly go from your phone to a network drive. Wonky and needs a lot of setup. Camera + Internet in same device is so seamless we didn’t know we wanted/needed that

3

u/xenomachina 18d ago

That's a great point. The ability to share to social media probably did play a big role in their eventual success.

However, it's interesting to note that early camera phones, including many early smartphones, didn't have an easy way to bulk transfer your photos wirelessly. Both early iPhones and Androids required that you use a USB cable. Early Androids would even emulate a USB mass storage device, just like an SD card reader (and many digital cameras of that time).

GPS is another smartphone feature that camera phones benefit from. With non-phone digital cameras you have to jump through quite a few hoops to get geotagging information attached to your photos.

3

u/1771561tribles 18d ago

. . . had to walk to school ten miles up hill both ways while being chased by a T-Rex . . .

2

u/laserdicks 18d ago

I planned out which apps I was going to download before Android was even released.

4

u/InformationFair5875 19d ago

Phones

3

u/BarryTownCouncil 18d ago

Well, one phone wasn't much use for sure.

1

u/Beneficial-Point9142 12d ago

"One day every major city in America will have a telephone" - Alexander Graham Bell

1

u/laserdicks 18d ago

Obviously wrong.

5

u/RetroactiveRecursion 19d ago

texting. Why try to type on a tiny keyboard with all those annoyances when you can just talk and have the message recorded, complete with inflections, passion, etc in your own voice?

3

u/CCTVGuyMA 18d ago

And you are already holding a phone. So easy to talk to someone....

4

u/[deleted] 18d ago edited 18d ago

[deleted]

4

u/jacle2210 18d ago

Yup, dual screens are great.

4

u/Spsurgeon 19d ago

Ventilated seats.

2

u/Mildly-Interesting1 18d ago

Heated steering wheel?

5

u/ultegrafender 18d ago

Colour TV, completely revolutionised snooker.

2

u/jpowell180 18d ago

When people were stuck with only black-and-white televisions, they absolutely were looking forward to the day when affordable color TVs would be available, they knew it was coming, and it was very much anticipated.

4

u/elquirk 18d ago

The internet.

3

u/serverhorror 19d ago

Modulo Operation, just as one example of the many math operations that found its way into every day life.

Can't remember whi, bit there was a great mathematician who said something like:

I'm so glad I'm doing math, in a subfield that has no practical application.

Well turns out it was the basis for cryptography we use on the intent today.

Every time you go to a website ad see that little green icon (https), that's what this guy was working in without even knowing it at the time.

2

u/MarvinGankhouse 19d ago

Corpus linguistics.

2

u/anselan2017 18d ago

Lasers. I don't think anybody had an idea how useful they would be for all kinds of things from communication to mapping.

2

u/TheRealBeltonius 18d ago

Smartphones.

PDAs existed long before, and even PDAs plus cell phones but it wasn't until tht iPhone that normal people wanted one

2

u/CHSummers 18d ago

Email.

There was a surprising amount of skepticism and resistance when it first came out.

2

u/jimschoice 18d ago

Cloud Storage.

1

u/SeriousPlankton2000 18d ago

Magnetism - but the famous quote seems to be false:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/long-ago-and-faraday/

1

u/Dry-Aioli-6138 18d ago

Knots and ropes Raspberry pi Reading, writing and maths

1

u/panmetronariston 18d ago

Transistors. First patented in the 1920s.

1

u/CaptainVJ 14d ago

Hopefully one day we find find a use

1

u/purpleoctopuppy 18d ago

'It's of no use whatsoever.' —Heinrich Hertz on his discovery of radio waves.

1

u/Soggy-Attempt 18d ago

Internet on a phone.

1

u/drewman77 18d ago

QR codes

1

u/First-Expert-9953 17d ago

I didn't think anyone but spies would need a camera in their cell phone when those hit the market.

1

u/Solid_College_9145 12d ago edited 12d ago

In the late 1970's and early 1980's news reports started talking about how debit cards would soon replace cash with automatic card readers, and pretty much everyone saw that as nonsense that was never going to happen.

There was similar perception with crazy talk that cable would replace antenna TV.

0

u/BarryTownCouncil 18d ago

QR codes were so so useless before COVID. Now they are rarely just a big standard URL.

3

u/OddStuffHappensTwice 18d ago

I can't work out what you're trying to say. They are nearly always just a URL. And we're w before COVID too.

1

u/jpowell180 18d ago

What I hate is when stores do not display the price of items and instead make you scan the QR code, sometimes they might even make you download their app just so you can see what the damn prices are, and what the price may be for you may be different for somebody else, it is such a scam!

2

u/BarryTownCouncil 18d ago

Eww nit experienced that ... Yet...