Provided That the Sun Isn’t Shining

Every time I have to interact with a parking meter or pay machine, I dread in advance what I will encounter. For some quixotic reason I have not been able to determine, the City Fathers of LA have decided to go with Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) on their parking meters and pay machines. Perhaps they have forgotten the fact that the sun frequently shines in Southern California, making the LCD screens totally illegible.

A similar issue occurs with the display screen in my car, which activates when I am backing up. At night, there is no problem. When the rays of the sun are not hitting the screen, there is no problem. But when the sun’s rays are streaming onto the screen, I might as well be looking at a blank screen. The pity of it all is that the backup camera is a good idea. It’s just that the execution is stinko.

Modern technology has yet to come up with a small display screen that is equally legible in sunlight and in shade.

Part of the problem is that as a culture we have become addicted to tiny screens. When I sit in my library wearing my reading glasses, Martine will pop in and indicate a problem on the LCD screen on our land line. The only problem is that I am wearing my reading glasses, and she is standing more than ten feet away. Or else someone hands me a smart phone when I am wearing my distance glasses. In each case, the display is meaningless to me.

Oh, I suppose I could wear bifocals, but then I would have to hold my head at a certain prescribed angle when I am reading and at a different angle when I am admiring the distant scenery.