I’ve definitely turned into the paranoid nutcase within my friend group in recent years, I hate that everything is “smart” nowadays requiring an app/internet connection & account, just to do basic things that didn’t require any of that before.
What’s some things currently making you ramble like an old man?
The number of registered cars has risen considerably, even in the last 10 years or so, and cars are getting increasingly bigger. IIRC registered cars in Berlin for instance has risen from 1.2 to 1.4 m in the last decade or so without the city expanding or gaining any meaningful parking space. Law enforcement is typically fundamentally carbrained, so they are lenient on such violations, thinking you can’t punish the poor people who have to park their car somewhere. With modern technologies it could be battled quite effectively, but it’s simply not politically desired in the Autoland. Instead, privacy and bureaucratic overload are made up as excuses on how it’s impossible to get a hold of it.
I think it goes past mildly on the concern scale. Car centricity in German cities already starkly reduces the quality of life there, and we still haven’t even collectively recognised it as a problem, instead it is still getting worse in 2023.
Cities like Berlin need to drastically decrease available parking and invest tons in public transport and bicycle infrastructure. The status quo feels like living in a 19th century industrial town, it’s disgusting.