The Dirty Toxic Secret Behind our Disposable Gadgets [Video]

No piece of electronics lasts forever, craftsmanship aside. But it surely could be the case that some devices we buy are meant for an early grave-that allows you to upgrade. And who pays the cost? Maybe, the whole planet does.

The Story of Stuff Project wants you to think harder about what you buy, why it dies, and where the aluminum and matte black plastic corpses prove . The project’s main argument is that you just, as consumers, are being duped. The things you buy isn’t meant to last-because then you definitely wouldn’t buy new stuff. Rather, through a clever mix of selling and design, that laptop you got last year doesn’t look so appealing. Maybe it’s because, as happened to me a number of years ago, it simply began to wreck down, component by component, until it made more sense to buy a new one than to head in the course of the hassle (and high price) of repairs. And then-and that’s the crux of the gang’s newest film-these gadgets finish up inside the trash. The toxic processes that were used to create them are joined, full circle, with the toxic deposit of these substances within the ground, water, or someone’s body.

This might seem like a conspiracy theory, but think of your gadget collection. On my desk quickly is an old iPod with a broken hard disk drive (it cost almost as much to repair as to buy a more moderen model), old computer speakers that have given strategy to mammoth new towers in my lounge, and, right in front of my nose, a two year old laptop which is putting up with the adoring looks I give newer models.

So what’s the solution? More importantly-what’s the issue? The Story of Stuff Project is true in that manufacturers bank on us looking at buying newer things, with no sign of ending-otherwise they’d be into bankruptcy after the first generation. However it should be conceded that typically we buy new things because they’re really great. Tell me I am a shopper automaton for owning a smartphone, and I’ll point you to the quaint Nokia I used in high school. Some might call it waste-I call it progress. But my HDTV? Two years old, and as beautiful as the day I bought it-despite the siren’s call of hotter specs. Neither camp is entirely wrong, and a balance ought to be struck between buying for the sake of buying, and buying for the sake of living better through technology. Replacing your phone because having Google Maps to your pocket will change your life is smart. Replacing your phone because you could’t swap in a battery that lasts for more than 30 minutes is an outrage.

The SOSP says this may take a commitment from designers to build products produced sans toxins , and built to last , to get us out of the ” designed for the dump” loop. Their solution, that governments mandate ” takeback laws” to manufacturers, making them ultimately answerable for handling safe disposable of stuff they created, sounds good to me. But SOSP must grant that, as much as planned obsolescence is sinister, and reams our planet for the sake of the economy, sometimes a new gadget is genuinely an easier gadget. [ The Story of Stuff via Core77 ]

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This post is tagged: computer speakers, conspiracy theory, craftsmanship, ground water, hard disk drive, manufacturers bank, old computer