Our world is being brought up based on convenience and many companies and products have been invented to make things go more smoothly and quickly. We've got 4G, self scanners, even faster hand dryers that cut down time and hassle in every day life. The contactless card replaces the process of using a PIN number at tills for payments under a certain amount. All you do, supposedly, is scan it and the money is transferred.

There have been people worrying about the possibility of theft, if security devices like the PIN are to be abandoned. If we can spend money and the press of a card, how easy might it be for someone to hack into your account more accessibly, say?

But what really bothers me, is why banks have spent millions of pounds on distributing and making all these new cards, to save literally about ten seconds. I'm all for convenience if it's innovative and worth it in the long run, however it really does not take me a long time to type in my PIN number when I'm buying something.

Another problem is that shops have to buy a special kind of machine that works with the contactless card, which many independent retailers simply wouldn't waste their money on. In fact since I've had my contactless card, with a vast range of small transactions, not once have I had it scanned off rather than the conventional method.

On the public transport system in London, you can now use contactless cards in the same way you'd use an Oyster card, except without having to manually top it up.

There have been worries though, that people with a number of contactless cards in one wallet, scanning to get onto the tube may be charged for every contactless card. Therefore people will have to separate their cards from one another to use the system, which creates more time anyway.

Personally I think the time and money could have been spent better elsewhere, and it seems almost ironic how something made to speed up transactions could in fact slow them down.

It's the same with those ruddy self checkouts. You can't get through your shop without having a real person called over, while the recorded voice shouts at you to take out the last item in the bagging area. I think soon there will be a backlash of people wanting things done simply without the added gadgets we seem to produce at the moment.