I tried looking at the reviews for a monitor, and when I clicked “see more reviews” I got redirected to a page asking me to login and to provide my mobile phone number (which I didn’t do for privacy reasons).
On Instagram I was confused at everyone else mentioning Instagram stories because I only have the option of uploading pictures and videos. Then I found out that it’s something you can only do if you use Instagram on a phone… I swear I’ve came across a few sites that wouldn’t even let you sign up if you were using a PC
I only ever browse social media on a PC and that’s the way it will always be. Sometimes I can’t help but feel like desktop/computer users are becoming an afterthought. Anyone else have similar feelings? 🫠
There are Instagram proxies like imginn that you can use to new stories and posts
I feel this. I prefer desktop for almost all of my posting and reading online. I only use phone when I am out and about.
Prefering a system over another is just bad design. Probably more profitable, but they shouldn’t care if I upload from my self build phone, desktop, tablet or what ever.
No, but the mobile market is where the money is, and greedy corps are gonna chase the almighty fucking dollar at all costs.
Because “mobile first” design, means “PC last (if at all)”.
It’s because the apps work as black boxes stopping the end user from blocking their telemetry, advertising and tracking.
What I hate more is how companies deliberately add blocks to their websites if you’re on mobile so as to force the user to download the app.
Two of the most egregious samples I’ve seen so far is Microsoft teams that shows a banner saying “this browser is not supported”, but switching your user agent or enabling desktop mode from within your phone’s browser makes it work perfectly fine.
Another is Facebook (yuck) which displays a fake loading bar that never finishes unless you trick it the same way as with teams. Their mobile site prevents you from posting anything, commenting, viewing random posts, uploading files, or seeing notifications. If you don’t have the app installed, you’re essentially locked out of messenger because it is reluctant at opening any shared files or posts as that has to be opened through the facebook app (obviously). What’s worse is I’m prompted to log in to Facebook every time I open any link Facebook or not from within messenger.
I’d love to fully uninstall meta’s apps but I have family members that only use their apps (fuck the networking effect)
Shoutout to spotify who have a perfectly functional HTTP interface that inexplicably breaks when viewed on a phone. I end up using a modded client.
Facebook on mobile web is buggy AF, but the adblocker works so it’s still better.
I’d honestly love a wall of shame for websites and “tech products” that showcases their hostility to users trying to circumvent their tracking
Use RTINGS next time for electronics reviews. They’re so much more in-depth than any other review site; they test every single aspect of the products and lay out the info in a manner that’s easy to understand, while still providing all the technical jargon for geeks like me. And no mobile number needed, either. The site is well-optimized for desktop.
Yes, I hate it. In fact, I hate most of the impact of smartphones on the internet:
- I’m not giving you my phone number. Shu’up. Stop asking.
- I’m not installing your broken browser made for a single site. Aka, your “app”. And if you don’t let me check your site without that “app”, I am not doing it.
- My screen is larger than it is high; most [all?] smartphones are the opposite. Smart web devs can deal with it, except that those are a minority, so guess what - I get blank space on both sides!
- I’ve noticed that the same people people have worse basic reading comprehension when using a phone than a computer; that’s anecdotal but based on both myself and people whom I interact personally with. And I’m tempted to blame the sorry state of social media partially on that.
I have a feeling there are more mobile users than PC users now.
That’s not even in question. Mobile apps allow for greater snooping and data that can be used to push more product. There are a lot of mobile users who are entirely uncomfortable using a desktop machine.
They don’t prioritize mobile users, they prioritize mobile apps - easier to track and gather telemetry, easier to show ads (harder to use adblock), easier to send notifications, you can expect the user to return if they already downloaded an app.
It’s okay. They are wrong for using their mobile phones for everything. PCMR brother. Never change.
Ironically enough I only use lemmy on my phone (browser or voyager) and it works way better than desktop for some reason. I couldn’t even get a post to work on firefox the other day, and images were not loading.
I find Firefox Lemmy works well, it’s just my laptop is like 4kg and not quite as portable as my phone. Never had an issue except for a period of time where next page never loaded but that was mobile and firefox
I know it’s not what you were asking about, but you will probably find this website helpful: https://www.rtings.com/
They are by far the best consumer electronic rating website I’ve ever seen. There’s a table view where you can do things like show me all computer monitors that have black frame insertion or show me all headphones with an audio delay of less than 5 ms and other weirdly specific stuff like that.
I only ever browse social media on a PC and that’s the way it will always be. Sometimes I can’t help but feel like desktop/computer users are becoming an afterthought. Anyone else have similar feelings? 🫠
They are. This gives much better control to them of what we’re doing when we’re doingon ‘our’ phone, and much less control to us at the same time. It’s a Win-Win situation… for them only. And a lose-lose for us (worse experience and much less control of it).
That’s one of the reasons I refuse to use my phone to do anything… where I still have the option.
I’m also frustrated. But at work the other day I learned that like 75% of our usage is from mobile phone users. Sometimes you just have to realize you’re in the minority; and that other people will make bad choices.
I used to be upset by all the mobile shit and then I went to college for computer stuff and started hating looking at computers after working on them all day. Now I’m a help desk tech and I don’t own a working computer of my own because using them outside of work feels like work. If I can’t do something official on mobile, I just get permission to do it on my work computer. If something for fun doesn’t have a mobile version, I don’t do whatever that thing is.
I do not like all the requests for phone numbers and shit, though. Just let me look at the site without being bothered.
