QR CODES
Does anyone
out there over the age of 50 know what the heck these postage stamp looking
things are? Please enlighten me if you
do.
QR Code…stands
for Quick something.
I mean I
sort of get it, I don’t live under a rock, but what good are they? They’ve apparently been around for a few years,
but it is only recently that I stopped smacking them on my screens thinking it
was a bug or something.
It seems
that now, instead of typing in WWW.blahblahblah to take you to a
web site, or simply double clicking the blue printed site to take you to their
page; you point your phone at the QR Code and boom you are there.
I guess young
people like this. They always have their
phone at the ready, they love their phones and they love anything new.
Me, I don’t
get it. It does not seem to me, to be
any easier to point my phone at a QR Code (and then what, take a picture, just aim it? I’m not really
sure) than to double
click a web site or even type it in.
I often see
on TV, survey requests to vote for anything from your favorite political
candidate, to which soap you prefer.
“We’re
taking a survey folks, do you A. Vote Republican B. Vote Democrat C. Not sure;
or D. Plan to leave the country. Simply use your phone and the QR Code in the
corner to choose.”
Once again,
I’m not sure what to do with my phone, just point, snap a pic, or whatever, but if
I do choose to vote, I have around 11 seconds to find my phone, find the QR
Code and…too late it is gone! Hell, I could
have easily typed in the site and voted, but I am QR Code challenged.
What do I do
if the QR Code is offered on my computer? Do I use my phone again? I can’t
point my computer at it! (Or can I? Is their some new magical technology I don’t
know about?) And, If I see the code on my computer, I want to bring up the site
on my computer, not my phone. Am I
missing something?
Here is
another thing about the QR Code I don’t like:
I don’t
trust them!
It has taken
me several computer infections to learn to look at the source before opening a site. When I get an offer for a free 80 inch TV, I
check the site before clicking.
WWW.iownyourcomputer.ru is probably I site I should not
click on. I can’t screen a QR Code (or can I? maybe young people know
how.) Maybe the QR Code is legit, but there is a
dust speck on my screen which takes me accidentally to a secret government site
and next day the FBI comes knocking at my door.
I fear the
time is coming where use of the QR Code will be the only option.
Is paranoia
a sign of oncoming dementia?
I hate them, but of course I don't even own a cell, so they are particularly useless for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jim. Pushing 70,the family bought me a flip phone. I have had it a couple of years. Still don't know, or care about,how to turn it on.
DeleteI was attacked by one today! Trying to take a picture of the orange slip left by the mailman to pick up a letter at the post office. My phone didn't want to take the picture. It wanted me to use that dang code stamp to go to the USPS website. What good would that do me? Is the letter going to shoot out of my phone? I think not.
ReplyDeleteI don’t use them. I can see how some could manipulate this code and send you to some porno site on the dark web. I’m surprised it isn’t already happening.
ReplyDeleteI just checked and it is happening!
While QR codes are generally safe, they can be manipulated by scammers because they all appear similar. A malicious QR code may lead you to a spoofed website designed to drop different malware types or steal your sensitive data, like your login credentials, credit card information, or money.
You’re on to something Joe. Not paranoid or demented! 😊
Just today, my client Ms. D asked me about QR codes. She got an invitation to a wedding for a nephew and she needed to scan the code to RSVP. We got her phone, pointed the camera at it and the website name came up on the phone, she clicked it and there she was on their page, able to RSVP and check their wedding registry list, all in one handy place.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about not scanning it when you don't know the source, I almost never do it. In this case, it was printed on the bottom of a wedding invitation from someone she knew.
I watch the Today show every day I'm not at work. They use QR codes for shopping. I'm so thankful I don't have a clue how to do that. My bank account is happy too. But that wrinkle cream sure could be a help..and what a deal!
ReplyDeleteThe fliers from the local grocery stores have a section of coupons that are Electronic Only. If ya wanna buy the product at that price, ya gotta use your phone, yeah,, No.. Thankfully the people at the store I frequent know my face and will let me have it. Well, the one time I tried,,
ReplyDeleteWhy would they even Do that? Why do they Want their customers to do that?
I see them everywhere and just ignore them.
ReplyDelete