I don't want to go cashless and won't do it

As a redneck I have a difficult time identifying with people's obsession with getting technology involved where it isn't necessary. I have a few friends with Apple watches and they just love to pay for things at stores with it. I don't know if they feel like they are in the future by not having to even reach for their wallet but there are many reasons why you will never see me getting on board with this tech.

I'm kind of nervous about privacy and data-collection and the more that a person purchases things electronically, the more that this kind of data is being stored about you and this information is almost certainly sold to other people to target you with marketing. I know a few people that say things like "I'm not doing anything wrong, so I don't care what organizations know about me." I just find this to be a really silly way to approach life but then again, the same people that behave this way are the people that I know that also feel compelled to put every little detail of their life online for other people to look at.

I am the opposite. I put almost zero information about me online and I use credit cards and apps for payment as infrequently as possible. I feel as though the government is already prying into my life too much as it is and if they are going to do this, I am going to make it as difficult for them as I can. I don't understand why people would actually help gather this information for them and just hand it over. You can say "I'm not doing anything wrong so I don't care" all that you want... but what happens when they move the goalposts and now you are doing something wrong? What if they are using your purchases to profile you, perhaps, or maybe most of the time, incorrectly? Will it bother you then?

Recently a friend of mine sent me this picture. I do not know if they took the photo themselves or if it is just forwarded from elsewhere. From what I can tell by looking online this is a picture from the U.K. and Starbucks has said that it is "up to the individual franchise owner what sort of payment they will accept." That's fair enough I guess because my own business also chooses what kind of payment we are willing to accept. That's the very nature of business.

First off: I don't go to Starbucks because I think it is absurd to pay $7 for a cup of coffee. Coffee is basically free where I live and in a lot of places if you buy a cup of coffee, you will probably pay around a dollar for it and you can have as much of it as you want. I guess I don't understand young people of today because this is just a massive mystery to me that anyone out there would be willing to pay this much for something as common as coffee.

But getting back to the point. I will not shop at places that will only accept credit card payments. If they wanted to accept crypto as an anonymous purchase not having my name, address, and credit history attached to it, I'm fine with that and would be willing to participate in that but I just don't like the idea of having every single little purchase that I make going to to a list somewhere.

I suppose I am being a little paranoid about this but if I am even a little bit right in my apprehension to have every aspect of my life watched by a company or government, I'd rather be a bit paranoid-sounding than get burned.

If I walk into a place and they tell me that they don't accept cash the stuff I was going to buy will get left at the counter and I wont shop there anymore. I find it bizarre that a lot of people are actually cheering for centralization of things while also complaining that the world is becoming more difficult and the government increasingly oppressive.

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_{Well, I'm not going to make it easy for them}

It may happen no matter what we, the people, do. But I am not going to help them to accomplish it. If a shop goes "cashless" they will also go without my patronage.