this post was submitted on 28 May 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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It depends. We have two Hondas that are single digit years old and they both have physical buttons/dials for air conditioning and music in addition to the touchscreen. Both have options to turn off the annoying stuff and the touchscreens are a reasonable size so they aren't obnoxious.
In laws had a Subaru and it was awful, everything was in the touch screen and it nagged constantly. Now they have a Cadillac and it is a chore to use as well, including forcing the seat belt just to put it in gear to pull forward a couple feet. Both had extremely distracting touchscreens that made driving them painful.
But those Hondas are still probably 4g capable, right? Because, at that point, it doesn't matter if you turn the annoying stuff "off". Honda is still spying on you, tracking you, and compiling a mountain of data based on your driving habits.
Not on 4g as far as I can tell. Have to be on wifi to do the map and other updates. It might collect and report data, not sure. I figure my cell phone is collecting far more data than the vehicle.
Just pointing out that not all post 2015 cars are nightmares.
Car telemetry might be a separate thing than the onboard maps.
When my parents bought their new Toyota in 2020/2021? (can't remember when), and my parents brought me to the dealership to translate because they don't speak english. And after the sale was done, the sales person was asking to download the app thing to track the car, and my mind was like: wtf, they could just track the car?!?
There was no special installation and its not a feature ever paid for. Its a "free" tracking thing, already built in the car.
The car didn't even have maps in the infotainment system.
Welp, there goes my plan to use that car to transport dead bodies /s
Yeah, telemetry is any information transmitted remotely which could be things like top speed ever, mileage, or even 02 sensor readings.
Which is an INSANE amount of data to collect from you for the thing that you supposedly own. You shouldn't be so flippant about corporations using and selling your data and treating you like a commodity.
Ok, I'll get right on not owning anything made after 2010. Or maybe I'll pick and choose what I can stand since my bank account doesn't let me buy the government which is how it works in the US.
Your snark is unnecessary. You CAN take measures to protect yourself and your loved ones from bad actors, and most of the solutions are free and open and dead simple.
As for not buying anything made after 2010? It's actually really easy. All you have to do is be poor. I've never bought a new car and I don't know anybody who has, and their lives are not any worse for it.
Maybe you have a "keeping up with the Jones" problem?
You know there are 15 years worth of used vehicles since 2010?
My first car was as old as I was and a half restored 280z project car. Owned several other cheap and old 10-20 year old vehicles over the years until I bought an 8 year old Honda Civic Si in 2001 and drove it for about two decades. Bought a new base model manual Camry in 2005 for a family car (I mostly drove the now 12+ year old Civic) and that one was used for 18 years before trading in in for my current vehicle. My current vehicle was the result of deciding what I needed in the smallest aize available from a brand I trusted.
Pretty much every new car is infested with intrusive electronics. While I could have bought an older model, I also know how much work it can be to maintain a 15 year old vehicle and I just don't need to do that anymore. Being able to afford something newer isn't always about keeping up with the Joneses.
If you can afford a new car, then you can afford an old car. There are plenty of old cars out there with lots of bells and whistles. Some of them even PERFORM better than newer cars. You want that fancy infotainment system and remote start that new cars come standard with? That'll only cost you about 200 bucks at Best buy.
If you are buying a new vehicle, knowing all of the issues inherent, then you are just trying to look good to your peers (ie keeping up with the Joneses). It's just too bad the Joneses are uninformed.
Look, if you're comfortable with paying thousands and thousands of dollars for the privilege of being spied in, then that's on you.
Rusting frames, worn out suspensions, cracked and dry seals, and faulty wiring are why I chose not to get a 15+ year old car. Sure, some of them were kept in a garage and are in better shape than others, but the second hand market for cars in decent shape isn't as much of a discount as it was when I was younger and reliability is more important for me at this point in life.
It isn't about the bells and whistles for me no matter how many times you bring it up.
If you like paying to be a product, then that's on you. What a good little consumer you are. I think it's kind of weird how much you're defending this
I dislike a bunch of incorrect assumptions being thrown at me for making an informed decision that has trade offs.
I think it is kind of weird how dedicated you are to trying to paint someone who owns a newer car as wanting to keep up with the Joneses and happy to have a bunch of spyware instead of responding to the words they wrote.
I don't care what you like, you're a stranger on the internet. How casual you are about the trade offs you made genuinely horrifies me, and it's just another piece of evidence to add to the pile for why our civilization is so fucked.
I assume you pay for everythjng in cash, only use fake identities online, don't participate in any businesses 'memberships' for discounts, and avoid every other possible thing that is used to track you. Wouldn't want to jeopardize tour position up on that high horse.
You'd be surprised at how close to true that is. I do use cash for just about everything possible, if by "fake identity" you mean not having a public facing social media account with my real name on it, then yeah I do that too, I don't know what you mean by business memberships for discounts, so I probably don't do that either (if this is referring to getting a membership at a grocery store or something, then I just use the local area code plus Jenny's number- 867-5309), and my phone and computers are encrypted. That's not a controversial or out there set of stipulations for somebody using a federated social media service.
So yeah, pretty much. Or at least whenever physically possible. If I'm not putting an effort into protecting myself, then what am I even doing?