this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025
794 points (99.1% liked)

A Boring Dystopia

14387 readers
488 users here now

Pictures, Videos, Articles showing just how boring it is to live in a dystopic society, or with signs of a dystopic society.

Rules (Subject to Change)

--Be a Decent Human Being

--Posting news articles: include the source name and exact title from article in your post title

--If a picture is just a screenshot of an article, link the article

--If a video's content isn't clear from title, write a short summary so people know what it's about.

--Posts must have something to do with the topic

--Zero tolerance for Racism/Sexism/Ableism/etc.

--No NSFW content

--Abide by the rules of lemmy.world

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 25 points 6 days ago

by the way the fridge cost 1800$

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 44 points 6 days ago (14 children)

Appliance repair man here. You can turn the screen off from a cover you remove from the top of the fridge door. Do so. You don't need a fucking android tablet on your fridge.

Also don't buy these kinds of appliances. They're terrible!

[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah man, I'll take my 1990's ass GE fridge I got for free over one of these any day.

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's a significantly better fridge in every way a lot of my clients have a really hard time understanding or believing that.

[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

But it doesn't have stainless steel or French doors. I can't even talk to Alexa on it. It's just like, a fridge. Who wants that?

load more comments (13 replies)
[–] thingAmaBob@lemmy.world 54 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Please stop buying these & they will stop making them.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago (2 children)

This is capitalism, they will stop making the normal fridges and only make these fucking things. The only power customers truly have is through regulation(though we should still boycott things because it still helps).

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Then people will claim no one was buying the normal ones. *looks at light trucks and smartphones with a headphone jack*

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] dil@lemmy.zip 21 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Fridge with ads should be 1/3 the price with free repairs

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Sorry, the best I could do is increase the price by 20% and bombard you with 24/7 ads.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Also ad free refrigerators will be rapidly phased out

[–] lobut@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 days ago

Also, these will break down more often and not be easy to repair

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Osan@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (4 children)

Wait why the fuck would a fridge be connected to the internet?

Edit: where I come from we don't have unlimited internet plans so this would just be taking up expensive bandwidth and monthly quota.

[–] Aeri@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I'm not defending this practice because it's remarkably awful but I will note that I have a router that lets me monitor the traffic that individual devices use and most smart devices like this actually use incredibly small amounts of bandwidth. Our smart water tank uses ~10 MB a month which is smaller than most images.

And yes I do think a smart water tank is valid because it can do shit like tell me when it thinks it's about to explode or leak or whatever and it can also like, be remote controlled, and it has a heat pump which is nice.

[–] Osan@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

I'm also not against automation or making machines "smart" it's just that what companies are marketing nowadays is just mostly overpriced shit.

And by consuming bandwidth I didn't mean for the indented usage I was mostly talking about the ads which will probably be filled with unnecessary metadata, trackers, unnecessarily large CSS files (if it was web based) and maybe high quality images. All of these things I find completely unnecessary.

Also coming from a computer engineering background if I was living in a "smart households" I would probably want to set up my own firewall. And like I said while I like the idea of home automation I don't want a corporation to be able to control or access my appliances too.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

The whole selling points was to track fridge contents via cameras so that not only could you ‚see’ inside without having to open the door - theoretically saving electricity, using AI it was supposed to be able to track expiry dates, and suggest shopping lists in order to have full recipes.

Additionally it had all the usual „smart home” integrations on top of that.

But let’s be honest, the whole point was just to put in yet another screen that vendors could sell advertisements on, as well as track/sell personal information.

[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Recently I read an article about smart devices uploading and downloading over 1GB per day. I tried to find the article again but all I can find is stores selling smart fridges etc. Search engines are broken. I asked chatgpt, which was able to find articles. How fucked is this. Boring dystopia. Anyway, here are some sources.

https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/your-washing-machine-could-be-sending-37-gb-of-data-a-day

https://www.reddit.com/r/smarthome/s/F5ETernz6f

https://www.reddit.com/r/SmartThings/s/HY2E0uOBiH

In the following article they talk about devices sending up to 19MB per week, but only text (so again insane amounts of data considering it's only text).

https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/smart-appliances-and-privacy-a1186358482/

The following is about researchers finding lots of thirst party domains when analyzing IoT traffic from Smart devices.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.09848

The following is an academic paper on how even encrypted data isn't safe from Smart devices. Bit off topic, but still interesting.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.02741

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Your first mistake was buying anything Samsung.

[–] FosterMolasses@leminal.space 11 points 6 days ago (4 children)

How long before the fridge's compressor swells up and explodes

[–] Draegur@lemmy.zip 13 points 6 days ago (2 children)

You joke but Samsung fridge compressors ARE notorious for catastrophic mechanical failure.

A fridge on fire is, like, literally the opposite of what a fridge should do >.>;;;

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] sefra1@lemmy.zip 8 points 6 days ago

I would like to agree, unfortunately Samsung still gives the longest updates on sub 150 euro phones.

But yeah, why does a refrigerator needs a screen in the first place? My white branded fridge must be nearing at least 15 years old, could use new rubber but apart from what still working perfectly.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 32 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Why does a fridge need a screen to begin with?

[–] Sv443@sh.itjust.works 31 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

To justify the constant upcharges. Touchscreens still feel much more luxurious than they're actually worth. Car manufacturers do the same to save money.

[–] redhorsejacket@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Could be I'm the minority here, but touchscreens stopped feeling like a value add years ago. Somehow I've wrapped back around to a good button or knob being the marker of quality. One of the reasons I chose my current vehicle was because they let the most common controls (climate, radio, etc) stay tactile.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I have seen a video about this shit also being implemented in cars. You can drive down the highway, with your GPS on and a pop up ad appears out of the blue, blocking the screen, not really allowing you to get rid of it before you remove your attention from the road to the screen, trying to figure out what button to push to get rid of the ad.

And the fact that people pay extra for cars and fridges to show them ads is just so friggin stupid. If people buy these products after knowing that they pay extra to be bombarded with ads, its 100% on them.

But in the case of the car, I do feel that shit should be illegal. It's so fucking dangerous and irresponsible from the manufacturer to implement a "feature" that can cost lives.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 days ago (12 children)

Don't worry, the fridge ones'll have ads for kids soon, with a candy-coated Buy Now button. Go-o-o *society!*🥳

Atwood's a gawdamn fortune teller

load more comments (12 replies)
[–] Waldelfe@feddit.org 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Oh no, who could have ever seen that coming?

Now wait for the subscription service to get rid of ads on the fridge you bought and "own". Oh, and that neat thing they do with cars now where you have to subscribe to get certain feature? That's also next. "Only ~~5$~~ ~~10$~~ 20$ per month to keep your fridge cool enough so the milk won't spoil! It's not a normal function of the fridge, it's our super special anti-bacterial option that costs extra.

[–] Gremour@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Black Mirror season 7 (I think) has an episode about this. Surgery to fix a part of brain (not cheap) installing a chip. And after some time pay a subscription to get rid of ads. And subscription gets more expensive over time.

[–] jve@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

Episode 701 Common People

It’s a pretty good one. Feels almost too on the nose, at times.

[–] ShamanRonin@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

Aggressively American

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

There's a pretty simple hack for this, actually…

[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Can't wait to see this come to the dash boards of modern cars. Oh? You're trying to reverse and make use of your rear-view camera? Watch this 2 minute unskippable ad first.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 9 points 6 days ago (2 children)

This is literally already a thing for Jeeps.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (10 children)

By 2030 everyone's kitchen will look like fucking Times Square

The stairs to your basement will look like the London Underground. We're going down the fucking tube... literally and metaphorically

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

So, if I bought this at Costco, and the fridge was 10 years old, I'd use their guarantee to return the motherfucker and make a ~~huge~~ epic fucking scene if they tried to refuse.

edit: huge wasn't enough, it would be epic.

[–] hotdogcharmer@lemmy.zip 12 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Why on earth would anybody buy a fridge with a screen? Why does everything have to be screens? Why is it all one big mobile phone nowadays? Can't we just not be staring gormlessly into a flashing screen for two fucking seconds for a fucking change?????????? I just got back inside from a run and now I'm going outside again for a walk in the dark and the rain because there is an entire world out there that isn't an algorithmically driven advertising funnel trying to shove more bullshit down our eager eyes, ears, and throats.

Although, while I'm on the subject, the outside world is fucking chock full of ads. I've heard it's relatively trivial to open those advertising windows on bus stops - does anybody know if it would be illegal to open one up and simply place a large black sheet of paper or something in there to cover up the ads? Not damage the ads or remove (i.e. steal) them, but just cover them up to give ourselves and our communities a break from the relentless marketers in our midst?

We deserve not have to our senses monetised and weaponised by perverts who cum themselves dry over CTRs, CLVs, CPCs, SEO, Brand Loyalty, Funnels, and Strategies, Local SEO, whatever else. We deserve to be able to look in any direction when we're outside and for five minutes not have some massive gaudy advert designed by a bellend pushed into view.

And as for fucking User Personas? I've got a User Persona for you, you sick advertising creeps. It's my fucking ballsack.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] fne8w2ah@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The dystopia is already here ffs...

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 6 days ago (5 children)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] subgenius@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago
[–] missfrizzle@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

bootstrapping problem if you need to drink your Mountain Dew(tm) verification can before you can open the door.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›