Going Cashless In A Modern World – An Argument Against A Cashless Society
In an ever growing digital world, just how much data do we give away? Think about it… every single day of our lives whether we want it to be or not, we are being monitored, tracked and recorded. As a society, as individuals, as demographics. You see it with surveys via the bureau of statistics, with cameras in public places and now we see it with our very own spending behaviour, and whether we know it or not it has been happening for a very long time…
FlyBuys, memberships, loyalty programs, even using our debit and credit cards for payments. Everything we do in life is being recorded. Ran a red light and got a speeding violation in the post? A camera caught your bad driving. If your card was used in criminal activity the police have the ability to see the time and date where the card was used and go to the business; obtain footage of the exact time and date to see the perpetrator (or you!).
We now have open credit reporting meaning that when you apply for a loan that lenders can not only see your current bank statements, but your entire banking history! Your credit score also shows if you are high risk or low risk for a lender based on the way you have made payments to your providers in the past. My point is that everything now is being recorded. The good, the bad and the indifferent. Is there nothing sacred anymore?
Before you think this is a rant or a conspiracy theory consider this…
Say you shop once per week and use your debit card to make payment. This is recorded on your bank statement. Whomever has access to your bank statement can see the purchase you made, the time and date of the purchase and the amount of the purchase. The supermarket issues a receipt to you with line for line detail of what items you have purchased. If anybody wanted to know what you purchased on that day, line for line, all they would need to do would be speak to the supermarket, ask for the data on a particular day and have a re-issue of your receipt. They would be able to get a line-by-line list of your itinerary on that day! The supermarket (as mentioned in the point above) could also provide access to cameras at the store on the day you were there and issue these to police (for police matters). Everywhere we go we are monitored more and more and more.
Why should you care?
Our personal rights are violated and the more we push towards a cashless society the less control we will have. It is far easier to monitor the cash we have remaining and available to us in its hard copy form – notes and coins. Afterall, if we don’t have it, we can’t spend it! It is why cash will always remain king – even if we are forced into a cashless future!
Are you already cashless?
If you are already cashless then chances are you have placed great trust in the systems and databases that contain your information. You may have memberships with many retailers (who all hold your information and use it to remarket to you to make you purchase more product), and you might reconsider in years to come once you discover just how this information can be used against you! If you are cashless… how do you monitor your cashflow? What method of tracking do you use? Do you just rely on your bank statement and stop spending once you run out of money?
At Adelaide Budgeting we know there is a lot of tech out there in this digital world that can help and assist our clients with cashflow. Institutions also make it very easy for us to sign up now and get the help we need. Just how much data are we happy to give out for free? Where is all of our data going and who is using it? The answer… the big corporates to help keep us compliant, in a job, and paying down our debts, but also at the same time, increasing our debts by using our data against us to sell more products and keep us over-spending and even more compliant in the job we reside. Even with apps that we enter our personal details into – it can all be recorded and reported at the other end.
This is why we take a different approach. With the tailor-made solutions we deliver to clients, you will be pleased to know that we do not take control of your cashflow as we believe you can do that. We don’t need to hold your hand like big-brother. Our solution may be a little old-school and low-tech, but full of education, support and guidance every step of the way. With Adelaide Budgeting you can rest assure that nobody else can see your budget except for you. The data cannot be used against you, and you are free to live your life; the way you have intended to.
Considered monitoring your budget whilst going cashless…? Don’t worry there is an app for that!!
**Disclaimer – The above comment is intended to be sarcasm. Your Budget Mates does not support the use of third party apps for budgeting and tracking your spending as you are never in control of where your data goes and what it is used for**
