Episode 5: Digital Wallets

‘Hey my phone is dead. Can you pay?’

I bring my wallet everywhere. I bought it off Etsy. It’s made from recycled rubber tyres. Sometimes I worry there’s a toxic compound rubbing off on my hands that will kill me. Paranoid I guess.

I’m not completely against digital wallets. Access to my credit card has saved me in a pinch when out on a run with just a phone. But in general I find having all my eggs in one basket a bit naff.

More importantly, the idea of My Analog Life is to make small changes to break our habits of being permanently tethered to our phones – and not being able to leave the house without a digital wallet is one of those tethers.

What if my phone gets nicked, or more likely, it runs out of battery?

Every payment becomes an entry point for digital distractions to take you out of the moment and be stressed about something else, rather than present with the people you are with. This is probably the main take-away: keeping things physical allows you to leave the phone in your pocket, or in your bag, or even better, at home.

Today’s blog is short. I can’t really come up with super deep emotional or philosophical reasons why digital wallets are a bit lame. So here’s my thesis:

1) It’s a bit gimpy.

2) Double gimp points if you pay with a watch. Or any other device really (payment by Meta sunglasses soon?).

3) A physical wallet has a story. It’s aesthetics say something about the beholder.

4) In my case it can also carry a bottle opener, Loop earplugs, a tick removal card, my membership cards and you can stash physical receipts in it.

5) You can likewish stash coffee stamp cards in it

6) It never runs out of battery, it’s waterproof

7) It can also hold cash

I won’t go on and on about the cash thing. There’s a whole movement of people who want to preserve cash as a medium. And I get it. Admittedly I’m new to carrying cash and the jury’s out on my side whether it beats the convenience of card. But carrying a small bit of cash is always useful for tips, small purchases and settling things with mates instantly. I’m new to this, but I like these aspects.

There’s probably a whole bit likewise about how the infrastructure of digital wallets is funded by corporates in-order to gain data on your ‘digital avatar’. So they can sell you more stuff you don’t want, nor need. But I’ll spare that for today as I have decided to add an additional entry during this season on the digitalisation of advertising, and more importantly, how to avoid it.

Tools and Tips

1) Buy a physical wallet, buy something cute

2) Get a credit card and match the limit to your available debit each month

3) Only carry the credit card (if it gets stolen, the spending isn’t your responsibility unlike a debit)