Cashless society is no longer a conspiracy theory, and it's almost here

Why are we hurrying the upcoming generation into the legacy baking system?

Mainstream "news" articles are often propaganda - designed to give a certain impression and send a particular message, while appearing to be doing something else, such as informing the reader about an important development. Language is carefully crafted so that the reader doesn't even know he's being manipulated, and his beliefs are being shaped. Hints are dropped, fallacies are used, and many other tricks are leveraged against the unsuspecting target. Agendas are sneakily hidden behind well-meaning fluff, and "accidental" grammar errors make meanings hard to gauge. By the time you get through it (if you can) you're not entirely sure what you just consumed.

Enter my What They Really Mean^(tm) strategy of cleaning up wording, removing fluff, simplifying messy writing, and cutting through the bullshit in mainstream "news"! The result is shorter, clearer, and FAR more honest!

It's Gimmi! But wait, who's Gimmi?
He's the digital pig created by banks, to help your kids get into banking!

A world without private currency, aka a "cashless society", is near. Once a conspiracy theory - denied wholeheartedly by governments / banks as something that would never happen - it's now being openly mentioned and normalized, to the point where the prevailing thinking is "this has always been the plan". How did we get from one extreme to the other, in just a single generation?

Part of the answer is societal engineering, being conducted through propaganda, a tool used by most states around the world since long before Edward Bernays wrote his now-famous book by that name. By manipulating public perception and belief about important topics, propagandists wield massive power in society, while remaining mostly undetected.

I seek to undo a little of that here.

This is what they really mean by "Forget Piggy Banks":

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There won't be coins for piggy banks much longer, because in a cashless society, all money is digital.

To help with this, a flurry of mobile budgeting apps for children has sprung up: GoHenry, Osper and Gimmi to name a few. For a monthly fee, they offer a simplified online banking service and prepaid debit card for kids 6+.

The digital UK bank Revolut is launching Revolut Kids. Parents will sign up their children, who each get their own RFID-chipped card. Parents view the child's account through their app, while kids download the child-friendly version.

The companies behind the apps argue they're a way of teaching young children about money in a cashless society. ²/₃ of adults globally are financially illiterate, and ¹/₄ of teens are unable to make simple decisions on everyday spending. These apps aim to overcome this by teaching children concepts like income, fees, and interest rates.

Gimmi, a pocket money app for kids, already has 1.2 million users across Europe. It has virtual savings jars where children can deposit money, and an allowance feature where parents pay children for doing tasks. They tested out a metallic jingling sound (like coins), but kids didn't recognize it or associate it with money, so they changed it to an oink.

"Cash was the best way to teach financial literacy because it was so tangible," Gimmi tells CNN. "Now currency is digital, which is hard for anyone to understand." Gimmi teaches spending habits, whereas schools tend to focus more on economic theory. "You don't become better at money just because you understand economics. It's more about the relationship you have with your parents' money when you're 6."

Children contribute billions into the UK economy each year. "There's a big opportunity," Revolut tells CNN. "We'll convert Revolut Youths to the adult app at age 18, which could translate to customers for life, since statistics show people rarely switch banks."

Could these apps encourage irresponsible spending habits? Gimmi says children are protected from this as parents will monitor their spending habits, and the account doesn't allow kids to go into debt before age 18.

Plus, it is important for kids to learn and make mistakes, says Revolut. "We want to help kids gain financial skills for life, and the earlier the better, because it's better to make mistakes at 8 than at 28." Revolut is already helping kids make financial mistakes in the UK, and goes worldwide later this year.

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My additional thoughts:

• Should we really be getting kids hooked on smart devices even younger than we already are?
• I removed several "now available" mentions because the original sounded like a thinly-veiled paid ad. Maybe it was.
• These bank accounts say they're teaching kids 'spending habits' instead of 'economic theory'. Is that a good thing?
• Won't getting kids to go cashless cause ALL of society to go cashless? Especially as those kids become adults?
• The word "money" is used a lot here, when "currency" is what is actually meant. Do banks not know the difference, or are they hoping the public doesn't? In other words, are they merely incompetent, or are they corrupt?
• I managed to escape from banking a few years ago, after being set up into that system by my parents in 1980.
• Absolutely zero mention of cryptocurrencies, only fiat digital currencies. Centralized, controlled, manipulated, and unsustainable. Why are we hurrying the upcoming generation into the legacy baking system?

DRutter