You know that feeling when you buy a new gadget, open the box, switch it on and you're ready to play with it… then suddenly:
“Please create an account to continue.”
Bro. I just bought a printer. 😭
This happens with almost everything now. Smart TVs want an account. Cameras want an account. Robot vacuums want an account. Even some light bulbs want you to download an app, create a profile, verify your email and accept 47 pages of terms and conditions before you can change the colour of your bedroom to purple.
I understand it for something like Netflix or Spotify. Those are online services. Obviously they need to know who I am.
But my printer?
Why??
Maybe the manufacturer wants to give us cloud printing, backups, device syncing and other useful stuff. That's fine. Give me those features if I want them. The annoying part is when creating an account becomes part of simply using the thing.
And then six months later you get an email:
“We've updated our Privacy Policy.”
Cool. I don't even remember creating this account. 😂
The other problem is that we're collecting accounts like Pokémon.
Think about how many you already have. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Xiaomi, Sony, Adobe, Canva, gaming accounts, shopping apps, food delivery apps… and probably another 20 accounts you've completely forgotten about.
Every new gadget adds another username, another password and another company storing some information about you.
Then one day the app stops working.
Or the company shuts down the service.
Or your five-year-old gadget suddenly needs an app that isn't available anymore.
Now the hardware is perfectly fine, but part of it doesn't work because some server somewhere has disappeared.
That's the weird thing about modern gadgets. We used to buy products.
Now sometimes it feels like we're buying permission to use products.
Can we please bring back one old-school feature?
Take gadget out of box → switch on → it works.
No login.
No verification email.
No subscription.
No “ecosystem”.
Just let me use the thing I already paid for. 😅