QR Codes By Linda Stowe
I turned on my TV the other night and noticed that some of the commercials had a QR code in them. Apparently, this is a thing now, but I don’t know why. I remember when barcodes first came out. I didn’t know what they were about either, but manufacturers made sure to stick one on everything they produced. I eventually figured out that the barcodes were used to ring up the right price on an item at the store checkout but I don’t know how they work. Since these QR codes are on my TV, they must not be the same as barcodes. I seem to be getting on with my life fine without knowing what they are for, so I’m not going to worry about it. Still, I wonder how everyone else seems to know about them.
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Polly here.
QR codes. They are quite the thing. Most of the time, you point your phone at your TV and scan the code with the built-in QR reader on your phone. Then, it will take you to the manufacturer’s website, and the product on the TV screen now appears on your phone, ready for you to purchase. You’ll also see QR codes on your drink of choice or your box of snack mix. These will also take you to a website, sometimes with nutrition information or other products to buy.
It’s mostly about selling more stuff to the consumer. And the manufacturers are then counting on us, the consumers, to buy more stuff.
I’ve noticed in the past year how this has grown exponentially. Everybody has a QR code at the bottom of their screen. But the most annoying ones to me are on the morning news shows. I used to be able to turn on CBS Mornings and get my news for the day. Now, they have two or three segments where they are humping products and telling all of us viewers to “scan the code now” to get these “Magic Leg Massagers” for just $79.99 each.
We have become data banks.
They suck out our data and then attempt to extract the contents of our wallets.
Soon, we will all have QR codes tattooed on our foreheads.
