Made To Break 3

Upon finishing this book, I realize that this trend towards obsolescence is the theme for this class thus far. We have read books on the history of computers, where the growth of computing in the 20th century was built on technology phasing itself out with the increasing speed of each generation's chips, we have talked about wiki and how knowledge, trustworthy or not, changes and become obsolete daily, depending on the topic and now we learn of the calculation of businesses to make us believe that things are obsolete whether or not they really are. As I begin the facebook book, I see that the theme continues because facebook is designed for intimacy and immediate change, sometimes several updates a day. This again leads to the idea that everything is temporary and we aren't happy unless everything feels fresh and new.

"The lack of durability, in turn, grows from a unique combination of psychological and technological obsolescence." (262, Slade)  Since it seems that we are being programmed to want the newest thing verses the something of quality, we don't care if things are broken before they should. Although people buy insurance for their cell phones against the possibility of it breaking, it really shouldn't break unless we do something to it that it isn't designed to handle. I got thrown into a pool this past summer, fully clothed and had all my electronics broken in one fell swoop. But one of my friends has a water resistant/waterproof phone that he kept tossing in the pool after I was moaning about my lack of phone, and as I shoved my phone into a bag of rice with the hope of salvaging it, I wondered, why aren't all phones water resistant? Why is it a special thing to have a rubber gasket around the battery compartment to keep water from getting in? Couldn't it be built into the price of all phones so this wouldn't happen to anyone who happen to fall into a pool or drop it into the toilet? I suspect it has lots to do with the fact that Verizon knew that I would be at the store the next day to get a new phone and doesn't care if the one I had would have worked for another year or two. Replace, not reuse, that's the mantra.

Which brings me to my next point. I was very happy to get a new phone but was mad that I lost some features on my old phone so I could get the water resistant one. "Modern consumers tend to value whatever is new and original over what is old, traditional, durable or used." (265, Slade) The euphoria I felt because I was due for an upgrade lessened that disappointment of having a broken one because I was able to replace it immediately. But other than for electronics, this mindset doesn't work for me. I still buy things for myself sparingly, mainly because I have children that want the latest things and they use the bulk of my money, but really because when I do shop, I buy things of quality and not because they are trendy, and they last. All the jackets I have are several years old, and they make go out of style, but if I hold on to them long enough, they are in style again. I look around at fashion and what people do to fit in by what they wear and I think if the girls would raid their mom's closets from the 80's, they would be perfect for today. In fact, we would save the environment and reduce what goes into landfills if we made everyone shop at thrift and second hand shops. Very little clothing ever gets worn out. Maybe that's what I'll get my kids for Christmas this year, gift certificates for the nearest thrift store, and watch the fun begin. At least I could feel better about not being one of the people who are not thinking about how much I'm contributing to waste.