Scan the QR code to pull your eCracker... Katherine Roberts

We went out for the office Christmas lunch last week, which was quite an exciting thing to do after two years of solo parties at home in front of the festive programmes on TV. The venue was lovely. When we arrived, a large jolly table were already enjoying their lunch, all wearing party hats. When we were shown to our table, I was initially disappointed to see no Christmas crackers on ours, but then realised everyone had a slim paper "e-cracker" as part of their place setting. Upon ripping off the end (along the perforated line), party hats were quickly extracted and used as paper crowns... but where was the snap? And the joke? And the little plastic jumping frog? Turning over our e-crackers, we discovered that to access these other fun parts of the cracker experience you need to scan a QR code.

Presumably with a smartphone?

Which I do not have.

Another member of our party quickly whipped out his phone and zapped the code, peered briefly at his screen, grinned and then rejoined the conversation without sharing his joke. I still don't know if he got a jumping frog, and the e-snap completely passed me by. But I enjoyed my party hat, a glass of bubbly, and a tasty Christmas lunch with my colleagues. So does it really matter that you need a QR code scanning device at lunch in order to access all those little extras? Maybe not. This is, after all, not a life-threatening situation.

BUT...

Isn't this the thin end of an e-wedge?

I missed some of the traditional fun of a Christmas lunch with friends: sharing a cracker pull across the table while trying not to knock anyone's wine glass flying; the inevitable groans over the (paper) jokes, which often get passed around the table if nobody gets them the first time. Even those jumping frogs can provide group entertainment, particularly if they hop into someone's soup accidentally-on-purpose. Directing each member of the party to use their smartphone not only disconnects them from a group experience we've all presumably gone out together in the first place to celebrate, but also sets a precedence for keeping your phone on the table throughout the entire lunch - which, if you've ever gone on a date with someone who does this, you'll know is an instant recipe for divorce. While I applaud the eco-friendly concept of the e-cracker (no jokes, plastic frogs, etc going straight into landfill, and far easier/cheaper to transport a pack of slim paper e-crackers than a large box of the traditional sort), I can't help mourning the loss of something less easily measured.

And this is not the first time lacking a smartphone has meant I cannot access post-pandemic services. Asda supermarkets have recently introduced a rewards scheme, which I think works a bit like the points schemes of the past. Before the pandemic, you got a card to scan at checkout, or had the points recorded on your receipt. Now you need an app on your phone if you shop in store. No smartphone, no rewards.

The car park machines at the train station have recently stopped taking cash "because of vandalism". (Hmm, and this is a CCTV patrolled car park where people leave their cars for long periods?). If the machine does not work when you try to pay for parking, you are invited to scan a QR code to pay. No smartphone, no way to pay.

Meanwhile, on my university campus this year, you apparently cannot buy anything using cash. The campus cafes and the Student Union shop still accept bank cards, but increasingly students whip out their phones and open an app. Before long it'll be no smartphone, no coffee - and then what would we caffeine addicts do?

These codes are all over the place now and, I suspect, not going away any time soon. Before you think the easy answer is to join the crowd and buy a smartphone, consider for a moment those who cannot afford one of these devices, or cannot afford the data even if they have an old device handed down by someone who is upgrading theirs to the latest all-singing-all-dancing model... which, as with so much tech these days, appears to be a train you're on for life. And, as I discovered when I trialled a basic smartphone on a Pay As You Go basis, the things absolutely EAT data, even when you are not actually using them and they are meant to be turned off? In the newspaper today, there was a story about Universal Credit benefits being cut and people being sanctioned simply because they cannot access their appointments online. One claimant had even pawned her phone on regular occasions to raise cash for essentials and therefore could not access her appointment schedule. Assuming everyone carries a smart device capable of connecting to the internet around with them wherever they go is just not realistic. My elderly father does not even have an internet connection at home, let alone a smartphone. If he needs to use an online service because he can't get answers to his letters or phone calls, he has to ask someone to do it for him or visit the library in town and ask for help. He does not want broadband or email at home, because he's too afraid someone is going to scam him, so he'd definitely need quite a bit of help to use a smartphone and/or the internet safely and effectively. Then there are the people who don't use such devices for health reasons, be it age (now my eyes are getting older, I can barely see the tiny text on them), or some other condition (electrosensitivity is still dismissed as 'all in the mind', despite growing evidence to the contrary), or simply because their (normal human) brain cannot cope with being connected to the entire world and all its many issues, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the rest of their natural life.

Vanishing cash, wi-fi everywhere, smart devices running our lives (you might think it's the other way around but, be honest, are you really in charge?). It's increasingly clear not everybody is coping with our digitally connected world, and for some it causes serious issues. When I got home, I googled Digital Discrimination Bill to see what the powers to be are doing about it, and this is what I found for the UK:

Age UK Digital Inclusion

Ofcom Digital Exclusion Review

UK Government Digital Accessibility

All of the above appear to concentrate on inclusion, aiming to bring everyone into the digital world rather than keeping non-digital access routes open as an alternative. Maybe it's a solution, and maybe the 6% of households who don't currently have internet access will eventually get themselves connected because they have no choice if they want to live in the 21st century. Maybe (as indeed it should be if you need it to access essential services), fast secure broadband will one day be free for all users. But is digital inclusion the right solution? Just look at the railways... once you tear up the tracks, it becomes much more difficult to reinstate a line, should there be demand for it in the future. When we all rely on digital networks for everything, and the world is reduced to little black and white coded squares that can only be read by a smart device that controls your life, what happens when that network fails?

Merry Christmas, everyone! Enjoy an e-cracker on me. Just scan the QR code in the photo... and if it doesn't work, blame my digital camera because this is the best it can do :-)

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Katherine Roberts writes fantasy and historical fiction for young readers.

Her short story Horse of Mist is free to download as an ebook for Kindle.

Horse of Mist
FREE eBOOK
age 8+

More details on her website www.katherineroberts.co.uk