So often, the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park ring true, where engineers and product managers are too preoccupied “with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.”
Someone asked “What was the biggest downgrade in recent memory that was pitched like it was an upgrade?” and people shared the worst examples. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites, and share your thoughts in the comments. If you want to see more terrible changes and updates, check out our article on bad redesigns.
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#1
Touch buttons replacing physical buttons. Especially in cars.
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#2
Getting rid of headphone jacks on phones. Getting rid of external SD cards on phones. Getting rid of replaceable batteries on phones. Smartphones used to be a lot better in so many ways.
Image credits: Outrageous_Tea_4597
#3
The change of some products, especially software, from a "you buy it, you own it" to subscription based models, where you lose access once the subscription ends.
Image credits: TheBassMeister
While many of the ideas here were at least pitched as “improvements” it doesn’t take an expert to see just how many problems might arise. Indeed, the classic example of a subscription-based model over just owning the item was almost immediately bemoaned in its time. Now, for better or worse, it’s the norm.
The truth is, when it comes to making money, companies can be pretty unscrupulous about worsening the products we have grown to love. In the past, they may have attempted to swing it using marketing and pitching it like a new feature. Now, some companies will instead hide the corners they have cut. This is most visible through what some economists call “shrinkflation".
#4
Definitely streaming services. We were all fooled by Netflix's initial success. It had nearly everything at a low price and was super convenient, so convenient in fact that rental shops pretty much went out of business in a few years. But aside from those few years it has ultimately become a huge L for consumers. Other companies wised up, everyone and their mother were starting a streaming service, tons of movies stopped being available and to have decent availability you have to spend 50 bucks per month on streaming alone, packages became more expensive overall, tons of properties just fell in a dead zone where they're not available anywhere through legitimate means, ads started appearing in paid plans, and now it's pretty much just cable TV again.In retrospect rental stores were not that inconvenient. They were everywhere and they had almost anything. They rarely didn't have a title at all, and at least for me the cost is more or less the same across the long term. Yeah if you were watching stuff constantly through rentals it would be more expensive, but it's been years since Netflix had more than one thing per month I bother watching.
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#5
All these smart appliances. I don’t see the use in these washers and refrigerators with touch screens and internet connectivity. They have so many points of failure. Just give me a bare bones fridge that will last longer than me.
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#6
Tipping culture in US post-COVID. I can't even buy a coffee without being requested to tip. F**k off.
Image credits: Pulp_Ficti0n
While it might sound paradoxical, after all, to inflate literally means to expand, shrinkflation covers how inflation has caused many companies, primarily GMCG providers, to “shrink” their offerings. The real issue isn’t your money no longer going as far, that is a sad, yet “normal” part of inflation. Instead, unlike the supposed “upgrades” here, which at least had some marketing behind them, shrinkflation tends to be done in secret.
#7
I was promoted to a higher management position that happened to be in the night shift.They DECREASED my salary, because the night bonus "would compensate the difference"...
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#8
“Starting January 29, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,”
F**K YOU AMAZON.
Image credits: WhatevahIsClevah
#9
Removing the dislike button on Youtube
Image credits: Puzzleheaded-Ear202
For better or worse, companies might have made the correct strategic choice. With higher production costs, they could either charge more or shrink the actual item. People tend to not like paying more for the same thing, so they will happily stop buying it. Unfortunately, this does mean that more often than not, the infuriating “half-empty chip bag” issue now applies to everything from chocolate to pasta.
#10
Getting notifications about suggested content. Facebook likes to send me notifications now like "Hey that guy who you had one class with in high school and never spoke to just posted something!" Reddit likes to notify me when there's posts on subreddits I don't follow. I wish notifications were just for things I actually give a s**t about like someone messaging me or replying to a comment I made.
Image credits: reticulatedspline
#11
Netflix ditching the star rating for a simple thumb up thumb down system. I stumbled across so many awesome things to watch purely because user rating was so high
Image credits: TheCowardlyLion_
#12
Smart TVs with the streaming services built in. You're now tied to some system with a crappy remote that serves you with ads every time you turn on your TV, and will eventually stop receiving updates leaving that feature worthless.
Image credits: bbbbbthatsfivebees
The worst part about this is that an unwary consumer might end up spending money and getting a lot less than they bargained for. Your daily trip to the grocery store is probably where this is most apparent, but it can happen when renovating a home or just signing up for some software. The only solution, as hard as it can be to accept, is to vote with one’s wallet.
#13
Windows... F*****g... 11. It's not an upgrade, it's a side grade at best.
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#14
Working and finding work with a college degree.
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#15
Customer service and communication with companies and general. Everything is now an app, a faq or a robot. I've seen commercials presenting this as a good thing claiming it's so easy to get an answer to your questions where in reality if you don't have a standard question you're screwed as no one any longer lists their phone number. Most large companies are impossible to contact.
Image credits: Funkytownn
#16
I work for 7-11. We used to sell burritos at 2 for 2.30. One day we had a "sale" at 2 for $3! When that sale ended the burritos were now 2 for 3.40. They raised the price twice but treated one like a sale.
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#17
Streaming platforms going subscription + ads, lets just combine the old with the new model and do em both worse! hooray
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#18
Electric cars. They’re being marketed as a solution to the issue we face with fuel and they really aren’t. They simply open up a whole new bag of problems.
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#19
The use of QR codes at some restaurants instead of a physical menu.
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#20
Customer loyalty cards being replaced with an app that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't when you're at the checkout. I most recently noticed this with Home Depot, so I stopped shopping there because they couldn't get my veteran's discount to work without my app working. Now I see Lowe's is going that same direction and I am dissapointed.
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#21
iphones getting rid of touch ID. It's faster than face id, it's easier to wave a stolen phone/police-snatched phone at your face than it is to drag your hand into position and other brands have shown there was no practical need for it.
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#22
Pensions to 401k
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#23
I hate that all 3 major consoles now require you to pay for a subscription to play onlineLiterally all the other features of ps+ are good enough for people to buy it why would you force people to buy it for online that used to be free
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#24
Has anyone mentioned wireless headphones yet? Bring back the plug-in ones, no batteries, and saved your phone when you dropped it.
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#25
Pretty much every sale these days. They jack the prices up and then discount to the same price they were before. It's pretty common here in Australia.
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#26
The removal of disc drives in laptops. Sure, the laptop is thinner and lighter now, but I can't use any of my CDs or DVDs anymore.#27
Food delivery. Pre pandemic (and pre Just Eat/Uber Eats) restaurants and takeaways would routinely offer totally free delivery over a certain amount, unless you were a fair distance away, and major pizza chains especially never charged for delivery if you were in their catchment areas. Now you need to pay increasingly large delivery fees no matter the distance. My local Pizza Hut started charging £3 - £4 for delivery, stating on their website; "in order to enhance your experience, we are excited to announce deliveries will now cost blah blah blah" or some such marketing bollocks. In addition the roads and pavements are now plagued by s******l bike coureers who have no idea how roads work.
Image credits: Megamoss
#28
Dish detergent/washing up liquid. For the past few years, I was sure all the "New and Improved' and "Now with x More" was false. Newer detergent doesn't seem to go half as far, or cut through grease as well. I used to buy a bottle maybe once every 5-6 months; now, I'm buying a bottle every 2-3 months -- and I'm doing the same amount of washing up. Fast forward to two weeks ago when I found a bottle of Tesco generic washing up liquid in an under stair cupboard from 7-8 years ago, unopened and still perfectly usable. I popped that boy open and did a 1-to-1 comparison with the same liquid I bought last week. I could immediately see a difference. The liquid in the old version was thicker, and obviously much more concentrated. The old stuff took a single pass to clean greasy pans. The same pans took at least three passes with the new stuff, and still didn't come away with that squeaky clean feel. Insult to injury, the new bottle had 60ml less, and I'm going to guess it cost more. Tdrl: Newer dish detergent is junk, and I have the old stuff to prove it.
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#29
Google 5 years ago vs now.Seems like its getting worse every day.
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#30
My pay rise that is well below inflation.
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#31
When Reddit removed home feed sort (miss you, rising!) “to simplify the user experience”
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#32
Hewlett Packard added "anti-hacking safety features" to all their ink cartridges, to guard against the risk of people having their computers hacked by counterfeit ink cartridges (WTF?).Of course, an unfortunate side effect of that new safety measure is that you can't use any ink cartridge from any supplier other than HP in your printer. But that's a sacrifice they had to make in the name of cyber security.
Like, seriously, I was getting YouTube ads for months in which HP were trying to sell this "feature" as a positive. I don't know how people can sleep at night selling such an outright and obvious lie.
#33
Open office plans.#34
Elon buying Twitter#35
Brexit#36
Cheap 4K TV's that got worse picture quality than the older Premium 1080P LCD panels.From experience my 7 year old 1080P Samsung dumb TV got better colors, better brightness, better viewing angles and no jitter in 24Hz content compared to my new entry level Samsung 4K smart TV I got for another room.
I thought, It's 4K, and it's been 7 years of tech going forward. The tech got cheaper so the low price of the lower end 4K TV is probably what it should be. Oh boy was I wrong.
Even the assembly quality is way crappier.
#37
Face recognition unlock on Apple devices, closely followed by on-screen fingerprint scanners on Android.My Zenfone 10 still has a fingerprint scanner on the power button the way many phones used to have, and it works so much better than either of the above.
#38
The privatization of public infrastructure in most countries.Which is almost always pitched as "You will get a better service, and we will get more funding for schools and so on".
What actully happens? Some business owner takes over and runs the service into the ground, only to get bailed out by the government.
#39
Privatization of Rail, healthcare etc#40
Streaming.You buy a movie. Bu you don't own it. They can take it away from you at any time, but they charge you the same. Total rip off and should be illegal.
#41
Photoshop Cs3.Bought the program, worked it for years, happy as a pig in s**t.
Windows 11, bang! does not work any more.
Can't find anyway to open my bought a paid for program.
Can't afford a subscription.
Adobe "closed' the servers or something.
F**k Adobe.
#42
People remember the headphone jack removal, but I'm also pissed about laptop manufacturers removing so many ports and telling us to use port hubs. I'd rather carry a laptop that's thicker than carry a separate hub just to connect a mouse and a pendrive.Also pissed off at how anti-repair laptops have become. The keyboards these days have to be repaired by opening up the whole a*s mobo. Before you could pop it out and swap.
#43
Anything involving "the cloud". It was talked about like this great new addition to anything, but really, it's just been a way to hack apart existing services and sell them back to people to wrench money out of their hands.I get that *sometimes* it's useful, but more often than not, it's just an excuse to be greedy.
#44
The Tiny House/Home movement.#45
In the late '90s people started ripping all their CDs to s****y mp3s just to save space, because they apparently couldn't tell the difference in quality between a CD and 64kbps (and I'm not exaggerating, a good friend of mine did that to his collection), and while people love talking about how great digital music CAN be, most of them aren't even getting CD quality out of it. I've ended up paying full-album price for what was called 'lossless audio' which apparently means 'cassette-tape quality digital'... and then of course I lose access to it after a few years when Microsoft and Google changed their music-related business plans. I want good-quality sound that isn't gonna be taken away by white collar criminals.#46
Australia have a popular line of cracker-like snacks called Shapes that come in various flavours like BBQ, Pizza, Chedder etc.In 2016 with much fanfare they launched what were supposedly new and improved recipes for the line (but in actuality were a massive downgrade that were almost certainly cheaper to make), replacing the original recipes in the process.
The near universal backlash was so fierce they embarrassingly had to walk the move back almost immediately, with “new shapes” disappearing from existence within a few months.
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