It is no secret that many tech gadgets are created with the intention of having short lifespans. Although people often think of “planned obsolescence” as a wholly negative marketing strategy, it’s overly simplistic to completely condemn these practices.
Planned obsolescence is a marketing strategy that has been around since the 1900s when the infamous “Phoebus Cartel” was exposed. In this scam, a bunch of light bulb manufacturers from around the world colluded to artificially decrease the lifespan of lightbulbs to just 1000 hours. Since then, many other industries have implemented techniques to shorten the lifespans of their products, forcing consumers to shell out more money to replace their products as repairing them would most likely cost more. This strategy can be clearly observed in the tech industry where newer and better versions of phones, laptops, headphones, and virtually any other gadget are released almost every year making previous models obsolete within a few years. People who have had phone screens or buttons break, or had their phone battery die, know how hard and expensive it is to find a way to repair it. Often people turn to the easiest solution to their problem, which is to throw out their “old” device and upgrade to the new model. Additionally companies also stop putting out updates for older models of certain devices since older models might not have the ability to adapt certain updates to older operating systems, also leading to people to ditch their old device in favor of a newer version. However, as we throw away machines and devices that do not perform as fast or efficiently as they used to, it results in a growing mountain of e-waste. According to the Guardian, “Last year alone, it was reckoned that more than 50m tonnes of it were generated globally, with only around 20% of it officially recycled.” The 50 tonnes of e-waste included household appliances, television sets, computers, smartphones, and tablets.
However, planned obsolescence does not only benefit the manufacturer as it is made out to seem, it also benefits the consumer. As the tech market is so competitive, planned obsolescence forces technology to rapidly evolve at a faster pace than ever before. If planned obsolescence was not implemented in marketing technology, it definitely would not be evolving at such a rapid pace because there would not be a sense of urgency for tech companies to improve their product in such a way that people feel the need to upgrade their devices within a relatively short time frame. Additionally, many people might appreciate the fact that they can pay less for a smartphone whose lifespan is short because they know that a better smartphone will be released relatively soon. Although this way of thinking is beneficial to manufacturers and consumers, it is very detrimental to the environment, and many major companies have started to realize that too. Apple and Samsung have started phone recycling programs and car companies like Tesla have started programs to repurpose car batteries for home energy purposes. Additionally, instead of selling model after model of eclectic cars, Tesla has found a way to change its software so that most of their models can handle any of the updates they push, significantly reducing e-waste. Finding such a balance in the technology industry is important so that companies can reduce the harmful environmental impacts they have without compromising customer satisfaction.
I really love your post and find the ideas you talked about very familiar to thoughts I have had in the past. The thought of purposefully making items last less time is so frustrating to me when I have always considered the goal of the tech industry to be perfecting its products and making them as great as possible. By limiting the life spans of their products, companies are making products deliberately imperfect, not only hurting the consumers who have to pay for new devices but also the environment. It is crucial that we can find a way to properly recycle devices, but thinking about it, that way will only come through evolving technology, which has happened faster through planned obsolescence, so it is a bit of a predicament where we must hurt the environment to help it in the long run.