People Reveal Which Innovative Products They Absolutely Refuse To Buy
Reddit user WaterWalsh asked: 'What product no matter how innovative it is do you refuse to buy?'
With the latest advancements in technology, consumers are faced with the challenge of narrowing their list of products to buy.
The anxiety is only fueled by FOMO–fear of missing out–when they see their friends on social media bragging about the latest gadget that supposedly makes life easier.
But some people can't be bothered with all the fancy gadgets that are at the top of consumer reports as the best product so far in whatever year we're in.
They just prefer sticking to the basics and doing things the old-school way–like clicking on the TV with a remote instead of dictating to it what you want it to do after fumbling around for that elusive mic button to activate the function.
Curious to hear from consumers, Redditor WaterWalsh asked:
"What product no matter how innovative it is do you refuse to buy?"
Some people could do without all the bells and whistles of tried and true basic appliances.
Chilly Reception
"Smart' Refrigerator. I just need something that keeps my food cold. I don't need it to show me advertisements or what foods I might be out of. I can look for myself."
– SomeSamples
"Unless it can remind me of the box of fresh spinach that I stacked the yogurt in front of and, therefore, forgot existed, I wouldn't even consider it."
– FallenEquinox
Things Get Heated
"A stove also shouldn’t be connected to the internet and should just be a normal stove."
– Illustrious_Risk3732
"My stove has an app so you can set the oven temperature from your phone, when I got it I thought 'ok this might be useful if I want to preheat the oven on my way home or something,' but alas, it proved itself useless, you have to touch your phone to the oven to give it the command, like wft?? I'm already here I might as well just turn on the damn oven."
– I_dont_know_you_pick
Get The Picture?
"If I could, I wouldn’t even buy a smart tv. That’s what my Apple TV is for. I just need something to turn on and make a nice picture."
– GlendoraBug
"I intentionally locked out my smart TV because I have a secondary device. It doesn't need to be connected to the mothership. My TCL television probably has zero security, and who knows how many backdoors to circumvent my router."
"All these IoT devices are just great "dumb" tools to use for DDOS attacks by unsavory nation states. Blackberry said this years ago."
– SkivvySkidmarks
Just because products are under a famous person's name doesn't necessarily make them top quality.
Clever Marketing, Poor Product
"I’m Irish and Conor McGregor’s whiskey isn’t really drank over here. It’s very average whiskey with a premium price tag. You could buy far superior whiskey for less. His branding is amazing though."
"It’s the same with his stout. No one in Ireland touches it... Again his branding is amazing and people all over the world are buying in to this sh*t."
– geoffraffe
Refusing The Socialite Family Brand
"Anything promoted by any kardashian… my curling iron broke so I stopped at target on the way home (This was years ago)… all they had were curling irons with Kardashians on the box - I refused."
– SammieCat50
These consumers just don't get the hype over these smart devices.
Bendy Phones
"Folding smartphones. They're expensive as all get out, and I've seen a lot of them develop weird screen issues just through normal use, that are prohibitively expensive to repair. I'll stick to my slab phone."
– EvilDarkCow
Personal Home Assistant
"Alexa."
– f'kswagga
"My roommate has one and I f'king hate it."
– VeterinarianFit1309
"My girlfriend has an Alexa in our bedroom and it's the most annoying thing in the world. She uses it to set a morning alarm and it always start spouting the weather and playing sh**ty music that we both hate. She refuses to get rid of it because she comes from a third world country and always dreamed of having 'American-life tech.' Of course, I overlook it because I don't want to be an a**hole, but nevertheless I dread waking up in the morning and hearing the Bezos bot."
– OldLavyGenes1998
Undesirable Communication Partner
"As a general rule, I don't like talking to inanimate objects."
– Interesting_Ad2464
"We got one as a gift, put it in the kitchen."
"1. The little kitchen TV was on and had an Alexa commercial and then our Alexa started talking to the commercial because the woman on TV said "Alexa" and it kinda went back and forth."
"I thought some people broke into the house. Our Alexa (don't ask me how) was playing our neighbors having a fight next door through their Alexa."
"The device lasted about a week before it was donated."
– Mackheath1
People were getting nowhere fast with these cars of the future.
Out Of Touch
"Cars with touch screens."
– Ruminations0
"I could stand a touch-screen, so long as it was supplemented with buttons. A car with only a touch screen? Terrible."
– SuperFLEB
"Have one of those at work. Just changing the heat while driving is a risk of traffic accident."
– Kaikeno
Some Drivers Musk Need This
"Tesla."
– brando9d7d
"I rented a Tesla on my last trip. I have the electric Volvo as a company car, so I was curious what Teslas were like. What a piece of sh*t. Materials are cheap, fit and finish was like my 95 Saturn, and it took forever to figure out how to control everything. Almost every damned thing has to be controlled by the software. Even the wipers, which is really distracting while you're driving. The key card recognizes when you walk up and unlocks the door, however in order to actually drive you have to tap the card on the arm rest. It's so stupid. Oh, and the 'shifter' is where the wipers should be, on the steering column. It's like they went out of their way to make the whole car as different as they could just to do it. I was happy to get back to the Volvo as it's a normal car that happens to have a battery, and a much better product."
– IcedT_NoLemon
Maybe it's because I'm not a gamer, but I personally don't see the need for an iPad.
I love using my iPhone and MacBook Pro to get all my business and social needs in order. Introducing a third option for going about my daily tasks and interacting with social media will only make my head spin.
I've also seen people walking around with their iPads and taking photos with them, which looks ridiculous in my opinion.
I remember thinking to myself after witnessing the bizarre practice, "I will not be that person."
But hey, that's just me.
The first version of most inventions that make life easier inevitably becomes outdated.
Remember the first time the iPhone revolutionized the way people interacted and communicated with one another around the world?
Who knew then that Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max would be a far superior version of the communication device offered by the manufacturer a decade and a half later?
While some innovations have room for improvement, it's inconceivable that there are some inventions that are simply too perfect to be bested.
In other words, if it's not broken, why fix it?
Curious to hear what those might be, an anonymous Redditor asked:
"What invention is so good that it actually can’t be improved upon?"
We can't imagine life without these things that have never required modifications.
Bowling Pins Benefit From This
"I've heard the Pin setter machine in bowling Alleys has never had a redesign. It was perfect already."
– Garuda475
The Perfect Conduit
"The XLR cable. Until they can beam something directly into your head, we kind of hit a dead end for perceived sound. The simplicity of what a cable can do by allowing both AC and DC power to flow through so you can power and draw signal from a microphone. Plus the fact it's so simple to remove the noise you get from outside interference makes it even more genius."
– anon
No Olfactory Offenders
"P-trap - a simple elegant way to prevent odor from coming into your house via sink, toilet, etc."
– BioSciGuy
Pie Of Perfection
"Pizza. You can change it up, you can ruin it, and you can fold it half like a crazy calzone munching madman, but you can’t beat perfection."
– TheGardenBlinked
These items have been around since as far back as anyone in our lifetimes can remember.
Upon Reflection
"A mirror is as good as it gets for its usage."
– epanek
Keeping Things Together For More Than A Century
"Paper clip. Last major patent was in the 1880's."
– SaltyChickenDip
An Organizer's Bestie
"The paper clip is great. But the binder clip is the sh*t. I've had the same binder clip as a money clip for 15 years. Plus they are great for easy cord management, chip clips, tooth paste squeezers, and so much more. I often feel like the George Washington Carver of binder clips because I extoll their value so much. Those things are dope city."
– spaceman_danger
You can't really improve upon the simplicity of these objects.
It Doesn't Discriminate
"I'd say nail clippers. Rich and poor people all use the same thing to clip their nails."
– rotatedesophagus
For The Iron Chef In All Of Us
"Cast iron skillet est. 1707."
– doctor_krieger_md
The Original Lego
"The brick."
"It has been made of mud, then mud with straw, then mud with clay, then finally with clay alone. That is as far as progress has taken the brick, in the (guess) 8,000 years since it was invented, and it is still in use today."
"Someone, lost in the obscurity of ancient history, realised that you couldn't build really strong stone structures with irregularly-shaped small natural stones, and hewing huge lumps of stone into regular shapes was just ridiculously hard work."
"That person also observed that mud that fell into a fire was left hardened when the fire died down. So they figured that if you shaped mud into regular shapes, big enough to carry one in each hand, you would have all the advantages of small irregular stones and large geometrically-carved stones, but with none of the drawbacks of either."
"This thought must have taken a second to dawn on the inventor. The practical work to prove the concept must have taken a weekend, at most. Perhaps a week or two to get the shape just right. And here we are, thousands of years later, and the damn thing has barely changed at all."
– falsescorpion
While there are certainly some great examples here, there's one valuable creation in this world that is perfect.
It's you.
Remember, no matter what noise or violent storms crowd you in difficult times, you will prevail because you are perfect.
There is only one you. And while there are things we can do to better ourselves, the core of who we are is a constant.
Stay true to who you are because there is nothing wrong with you. Remember, you matter.
We live in a world where we practically witness advances in technology before our very eyes.
Of course, these advancements have resulted in some life-changing inventions that have become commonplace in most households.
These include the iPhone, rumbas, or our live-in assistants Siri, Echo, and Alexa.
But these are only a handful of inventions that have made our lives all the easier and forever changed our future.
Leaving us to wonder what further inventions await us, not to mention the inventions which haven't gotten as much attention, but arguably should have.
As well as some inventions which we'd all be better off if they remained unknown.
"What's a relatively unknown technological invention that will have a huge impact on the future?"
The End Of Back Aches As We Know It!
"I was talking with my spine surgeon and he said in 30 years they will be able to regenerate the gel in your spine, practically giving you a new back."
"I’ve herniated the same two disc in my lower back twice by the time I was 30."
"My doctor told me that by the time I’m 50 I’ll most likely need back surgery but it shouldn’t be a big deal since they can replace the gel, not sure technical name, that’s been impacted by the slip discs."- MBerg09
Infections Be Gone!
"Research into bacteriophages, bacteria targeting viruses, could cure antibiotic resistant bacterium such as MRSA."- Tlctr1999
Will We Even Need Doctors?
"Gene therapy is no longer science fiction."
"My girlfriend got 'Luxturna' surgery and the results have been amazing."
"She used to be unable to see at all at night and now she can guide herself without a cane."
"More treatments like that are going to keep coming and be standard before we realize it."- forkd1
Animation Dna GIF by The Explainer StudioGiphyDon't Always Believe What You See
"Deepfake is still in its infancy and it terrifies me."
"We already live in a time when people take irrefutable video evidence and somehow find ways to rationalize away what they are seeing."
"People don't listen to science anymore, truth has become frighteningly subjective."
"Think of all the videos of police shootings/political scandals/whistleblowers/assassinations/and more."
"Now, add in a technology that has the potential to create doubt about the validity of what we are seeing."
"It's the perfect excuse, and all people will need, to kill that last little bit of logical thought deep in their brain."
"It is a perfect tool to create chaos and discord."
"Politicians will use it to create confusion and doubt."
"To sow fear, create false narrative and de-legitimize their opponents."
"Or to cast doubt on crimes and acts they have committed."
"Something that was once impossible to rationalize away will become yet another misinformation tool and and engine to sow doubt."- King_Prawn_shrimp
No More Tripping Over Plugs!
"Wireless ekg machines."- Depression_nap19
Security Heartbeat GIF by Sandia National LabsGiphyA Newfound Energy
"Realistically, the use of carbon grids to reproduce the catalytic effects of Rhodium metal, commonly used in catalytic converters."
"Rhodium metal is currently trading at $13,000/oz after a huge spike due to worldwide emissions restrictions that took effect in 2020."
"Long story short there is only 2 places on Earth to effectively find the stuff and it is going to run out, well before fossil fuels and other important building materials do."
"Replacing Rhodium with Carbon in catalytic purposes would save global manufacturers hundreds of billions a year and make many consumer goods much more affordable."
"In theory with the affordable part."- PlentyLettuce
No More Need For Double A's...
"Lithium Sulfur batteries are in development right now that could make battery storage much cheaper than current lithium ion, and lithium polymer batteries."
"Lower cost batteries mean more people can afford to use them, and that's more internal combustion engines, replaced with electric motors."
"While I'm at it, battery recycling."
"Every element in a battery can be extracted, and recycled into new batteries, especially the lithium."
"A former founding member of Tesla has actually already opened a plant to do just that."- Fragraham
Skin And Organs At The Ready!
"Printed human skin and organs."- RandomRavenclaw87
drug testing video GIFGiphyMake Our Garden Grow
"Low-pressure solar-powered drip irrigation systems."- SerMercutio
It can be unsettling when we see how much we can rely on technology with each passing year.
Not always for the better
However, everything has its downsides, and if technology can safely help us live longer, healthier, and hopefully happier lives, then the best thing we can do is embrace change.
Scary as it often seems.
I never know the age of anything.
It's funny how we look at certain aspects of life and just have a certain sense of nostalgia attached.
Take Adele for instance. It feels like she's been a part of our lives forever.
But she's only 4 albums in.
That's a drop in the musical bucket.
A very magical and musical bucket.
Redditor LunchCautious8781 wanted to talk about some items that seem old but may still be in the beginning stages.
They asked:
"What do most people not realize is newer than they actually think?"
Iphones. 14 generations is not that far on. Let's talk at 50.
+/-
Pregnancy Test Im Pregnant GIF by Shay MitchellGiphy"Home pregnancy tests, in the 1970s. No longer do we have to inject the lady’s urine into frogs, mice, or rabbits to confirm a pregnancy!"
nagisu
Water Only
"The knowledge that it’s bad to drink when pregnant. Only became widely known in the 80s."
youcallthataheadshot
"This one boggles my mind. Alcohol isn't exactly new -- the ancient greeks had wine and mead. The temperance movement was active for a good hundred years before they got the 18th Amendment."
"But nope. While there were certainly some alarms raised throughout history, people were surprised to learn about fetal alcohol syndrome in 1973, and it wasn't confirmed by a second group of researchers until 1979. In the 60's through 80's it was apparently common for doctors to give alcohol intravenously to women to stop premature labor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorder#History"
Lord_Nivloc
Family
"The word sibling was coined in 1903."
ClapAlongChorus
"I learned in English class in 1990 that English didn't have a word for sibling. Later, they said there was a word but no one used it in everyday speech. My mind was a little blown the first time I saw someone actually use it online, around 1999."
Emmison
"This is totally false. The word sibling was coined in Old English and used to refer to anyone who was related to you. It fell out of use for a little while, then was brought back in the 1900s to exclusively refer to brothers and sisters. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sibling#Etymology"
Photo Op
"Having to show ID at the US/Canada border. Prior to 9/11 they often wouldn't even ask to see a drivers license."
Seinfelds-van
"Same at the Mexican border, even after 9/11. I can remember going down to Puerto Penasco around 2002 or 2003 and just being waved through on the way home. Didn't even have to roll my window down, much less show an ID."
mynonymouse
Carb History
Bread Oprah GIFGiphy"Ciabatta bread goes all the way back to the early 1980s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciabatta#Italy"
Hyphum
"Haha I heard of that too, awhile back. I went googling it again and apparently baguettes are from early ~1900s. Crazy, I would've thought they'd be historical."
Kep0a
Oh that is good bread.
For Comfort
"Boxer briefs are fairly new to the scene, becoming popular in the 1990s."
FaberGrad
"I'm happy they did. My favorite underwear."
McFluff_TheCrimeCat
New World
"Tomatoes are actually a new world crop. So when you associate Italy with pasta sauce, you're actually thinking of Italy, post Columbian Exchange (mid 1500s). And actually, tomato sauce wasn't even integrated into Italian cuisine until the late 19th century, so go figure."
lacroixb0i
Back Together
"What hit me the other day: Germany. It was only reunified 30 years ago."
"Same with Italy. Not that it was reunified 30 years ago, but it hasn’t been a country as long as America has."
GREGORIOtheLION
"I was actually just thinking about this last night because Google Rewards gave me a survey asking about my feelings towards Trabant as a brand: https://i.imgur.com/3lUyozZ.jpg I really don't know why it wanted to know my opinion on a brand that went defunct when the Berlin wall fell lol."
FuzzelFox
The Drift
"The theory of plate tectonics. It pretty much makes up the entire backbone of modern geology, yet it wasn't actually accepted until the 1960s. Alfred Wegener proposed his theory of continental drift in 1915 but couldn't explain the mechanism behind it so his theory was dismissed."
mechanism behind it so his theory was dismissed."
"Over the next few decades, the evidence of crustal movement became undeniable and plate tectonics developed as a theory. It's just crazy to me that geologists were pretty much completely clueless until around 60 years ago."
Gneissisnice
Inhabitants...
Read New Zealand GIF by Rugby World CupGiphy"New Zealand! Its indigenous population only arrived there about 800 years ago, despite Australia just across the Tasman having been inhabited for 75,000 plus years."
GrimThursday
History short and long is fascinating.
People Divulge The Most Life-Changing Items You Can Buy For Under $100
Sometimes a new purchase will have way more of an affect on our lives than we expected and, a lot of times, it's not the really expensive items that have the biggest impact.
Something like an air fryer making dinner faster and easier to cook can give you back a lot of time that you might otherwise have spent cooking, and that time adds up fast.
Redditor KingPin1010 asked:
"What life changing item can you buy for less than $100?"
More Screens
"Another monitor."
"Your productivity will increase dramatically."
- ItsTribeTimeNow
"I have 3. But maybe you are right..."
- TJonesyNinja
"There's never enough monitors."
- Account Deleted
Greenery
"House plants. They will make you happy looking after them. I recently bought a venus fly trap, she caught her first fly today. So proud."
- ManonastickUk
"This is so wholesome I could die."
"I started keeping and growing plants and herbs, and just not killing them feels like such a huge accomplishment. Seeing a new sprout is like a celebration."
"Now I understand why people have graduations for kindergarten."
- NeckroFeelyAck
"Feed me Seymour!!!"
- ManKittie
Hungry Feed Me GIFGiphyQuackers
"Two pet ducks. You may be tempted to go for one. But trust me. You need two. And you’ll have about $76 left over."
- duckmama89
"They don't tell you this in school, but the ducks in the park are free..."
- IntroDucktory_Clause
"Ducks are free in the pond near my house. They’re tricky to catch but worth it in the end."
- HerNameIsGrief
More Than Just Rice
"Rice cooker. That f**ker kept me fed during depression when I barely had the energy to get out of bed. Takes less than nothing to get some rice in there and flip the switch. Want something sweet? Throw coconut and sugar in there. Want flavor but can’t be f**ked to make anything? Get some Spanish rice or saffron goin. You can throw tofu in there with it if you need. Yeah it’s not the best for you but hot food is better than no food."
- HotTopicMallRat
"Cooking old fashioned oats in the rice cooker has become a winter tradition in our family. The texture of the oats is fantastic. The kids and I pick and dry fruits in the warmer months to use in oatmeal during the winter months."
- DameLibrio
Best Use For A Buck
"I bought a $1 back scratcher from an asian market in town. Best $1 I ever spent."
- matthewsmazes
"My boyfriend came home from work one day raving about this back scratcher his boss had. I thought it was the dumbest thing. A few days later he comes home and says he found the same one at a gas station for $8. I rolled my eyes thinking who needs a back scratcher for $8. It’s the best thing ever. It looks like a little metal skeleton hand and it’s extendable."
- pepperedcitrus
Tea With Ease
"If you have trouble getting up or functioning in the morning, and like a nice cup of coffee or tea, an electric kettle with a timer can be a real game-changer. Or just getting an electric kettle if you don't have one."
- zazzlekdazzle
"An electric kettle with a thermometer will up your tea game by leagues."
- Psychological_Tear_6
dolly parton tea GIF by London Theatre DirectGiphySo Snuggly
"A king sized blanket for a queen sized bed."
- ImHere4theFunnies
"I got a king for a double bed. Best decision ever! The double sheets fit the bed, but I couldn't snuggle completely under them without curling up. Now. I can hide completely under the duvet stretched out. Best thing ever in the winter!"
- Zanki
"If I pull the covers completely over myself the boogeyman can’t find me."
- apgeorge69
Save Your Shins, And Your Eyes
"Motion sensor night lights. Can’t tell you how many stubbed toes or falls they have prevented. Also a cheap intruder alarm."
- epanek
"Get a motion activated toilet bowl light. They're amazing. Don't kill your eyes in the middle of the night when you gotta pee."
- Onlythegoodstuff17
"Relatedly, a dimmer switch for the bathroom. Works in the middle of the night, as well as early mornings, as you can gradually increase the brightness to match your current tolerance for the world."
- Cimarro
Support Your Cranium
"May sound simple, but a good pillow. It is amazing the change in body aches, and sleep you see when you have a good pillow that fits you."
- shartnado3
"I thought that I liked memory foam and other fancy pillows, but the real life changer for me was a buckwheat pillow. I have sleep apnea, and it allows me to get my head into the perfect position and keep it there comfortably."
"Before you go out and buy one, please research the pro's and cons. They aren't for everyone."
"Consider them if you like a firmer pillow, occasionally wake up with an achey neck from lack of support, and want a pillow that breathes well. Someone in the comments has also pointed out that you will win every pillow fight you get into."
"Downsides are: if you shift around in your sleep a lot, you'll need to adjust the pillow to fit your new position. Adjusting the pillow and settling in makes a little bit of noise as the buckwheat husks rub against each other, kind of like dry leaves crinkling. Some people are also allergic to buckwheat, but there are other similar fillings such as millet husks. Organic fillings also need to be replaced once in a while, since it breaks down over time.
- Phosphero
Make Your Mornings Easier
"Step 1: Throw away all your socks.
Step 2: Buy 3-5 packages of the same sock.
Step 3: Enjoy a life without ever having to match socks again."
- slykly2
"OMG!! I thought I was the only one that did this. My husband and kids make fun of me but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. One gets a hole, throw it out and move on. No worries about finding the mate and getting rid of the pair. No matching socks when doing laundry. No worrying about wearing two different socks at the same time (sorry, my OCD won’t let me do this). This makes my life so much easier!'
- turtlefreak23
It doesn't take a $1,000 new toy or appliance to make a big difference in your life. Sometimes it's something like a $10 water bottle you found on sale that makes drinking water easier and more fun that makes the biggest improvement.