this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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This is just wrong. Well, they might have the reputation, but let me tell you: Every aspect of German governance relies on fax machines and paper forms. You can hardly do anything online, and when you can, it’s usually not at all easy to use.
The latest thing they tried was electronic doctor’s notes. (In Germany, when you’re sick, you go to a doctor and let him write a note that you can’t work. You still get paid for your sick leave if you bring a doctor’s note.) Two months ago my colleage got ill and it took 8 weeks to have the deducted hours added again.
Why is Germany stuck in the 90s in particular? Why not other countries and why the 90s?
One important factor is that one of our biggest political parties (the CDU/CSU, the one Angela Merkel is in) is basically run by and for 60+ year old people who stopped caring about technology in their teens.
To them, the internet with its homepages and electronic mail is a very recent and poorly understood development that will surely require another few decades of observation before anyone will know whether it's actually good for anything.
And that's the party that ran Germany for almost two decades uninterrupted. They're by far not the only reason but they're a major one.
As a Japanese I can attest that at least one other country is stuck like that too, and likely many others
Because German culture despises progress.