this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2024
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In the 2010s, my neighbor asked me to fix their iPad because i was technically literate. I noticed it had a EoL date and it was fast approaching. I realized that iPads were just bigger iPhones. And Chromebooks were also getting popular.
I then realized we were all fucked.
We have all this "disposable" tech that only have a window of about 3-4 years before it breaks down. Even with open-source and boot loading, there's just so much garbage and it'll only continue to grow.
We should also force all these tech companies to take in any e-waste (batteries, cables, usb drives, hard drives, plastic containers, anything) and dispose of it properly.
Ship it to the Philippines and the container mysteriously vanishes mid transit?
Every product should have a clear EOL path, most preferably a recyclable one. Indeed it should be on manufacturers shoulders to enable it and on legislation to require it.
Man wouldn't it be nice to have responsible governments?
.. shove it up their CEO's ass?
Introducing i-Landfill™!
Think different!®
Tech is becoming more difficult to repair as well. Had a phone that somehow got its WiFi broken. Did everything I could do software wise, so I concluded it was something with the hardware.
Asked a repair shop what they could do. Well they could replace the entire board with CPU and everything, but that’s going to cost about the same as buying a new phone. The choice was easy.
There's a bit of sanity in the world: https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/consumer-protection-law/consumer-contract-law/rules-promoting-repair-goods_en
Buy responsibly:
https://www.fairphone.com/
https://frame.work/
Framework is a great company, but I'm a bit torn on Fairphone. Not sure if I like where their company is going.
EDIT: Because some people asked for clarification about Fairphone, here are my (very subjective) thoughts:
I think the idea behind Fairphone is great, and I think more phone manufacturers should take a few hints about repairability and sustainability from them.
That said, their software is just okay, missing a lot of QoL features that are found with other manufacturers. Also, I've seen reports of pretty gnarly bugs after OS updates, but I can't verify those personally.
Their customer service sucks, according to a lot of people. And as someone with experience in both industries (mostly customer support) I can tell you that those things usually speak for a lackluster management.
Also, small nitpick: I really wish they'd kept a headphone jack on their newest phone.
So yeah, as I said, mostly very subjective. But hey, no one said that liking or not liking something can only be for objective reasons.
Where exactly is their company going? I've only ever heard good things about them
What's the point of saying something incendiary like this *without providing an explanation? Does FairPhone oppose Right To Repair? Do you own competing stock? Did the CEO sleep with your wife? Without context or details, telling people this is meaningless...
Edit: autocorrect
No idea what you're talking about. My repairable headphones work fine.
I've been toying with an idea that the government should keep track of purchases (voluntarily and anonymously) and they should have minimum guaranteed. So if your freezer only last 10 years then the government can see this, or you can see this on the website and the manufacturer has to repair it or refund it fully. Different products have different guarantees
That would sort out shit products pretty quick.
The issue is holding that capital for insurance, especially for new companies (like seriously this is a potential dealbreaker problem) but it might have the added benefit that shite from China can't get insurance and can't be sold, only local products can, or products from the west.
Secondly the price of recycling should be included in the upfront cost and the government should provide free recycling. Or it is 150% of recycling cost and the consumer gets the 50% back when they recycle rather than throwing it in a river.
There is already stuff like that where I live in the EU, it runs basically on (e-)receipts or other proofs of sale. Don't mandatory warranties exist in the US?
Oh, it totally will, and they will even pretend everything is alright when sold, then by the time you try getting at them the company won't exist.
There is some in the US but enforcement is lacking.
Bullshit. I have an iPad from 2011 still in use, Macbook from 2012 still fine running Debian, etc.
I understand that if you're tech incompetent you need to throw shit out after 2 years, but don't blame the rest of us for the amount of trash you produce.
Edit: Funny how people downvote someone else for their own dumb actions. You're all consumers, and bad ones at it apparently.
True to a degree but you can do similar things with thinkpads and keep them longer. The company can always extend lifetime by enabling repairability and upgradeability. But this goes against their profit since they then can’t sell a new product every two years. The consumer shouldn’t have to find ways around planned obsolescence and feel superior if they manage to solve this puzzle.
That's why there's not a cure* for various cancers.
You gave an example where it is possible to install linux and only basic functionality is required, but what do you think happens with almost all mobile devices?
When it is not possible to change OS/ROM, or they are old, there is no alternative... apart from being stuck with an obsolete OS and apps full of known bugs. Or are you "competent" enough to develop everything yourself?
If you can do the same shit with solar panels or cars or whatever device that has a proprietary bootloader or glued together, then you can climb back on to your high horse.
Don't buy the shit you know you won't use in a decade. Not that hard.
Problem is that people will keep buying it, companies going to keep marketing and selling it, and the landfills get ever bigger.
Pretty much this. If you buy decent stuff and take care of it, then there's now less of an expiration date than ever before in my experience.
Computers 20+ years ago were really old after 5 years, but nowadays you can put an SSD into a PC from 10 years ago and it will be more than good enough for most people's usage. And if it doesn't have enough memory for the current windows 10 bloat, then Linux is an option, but imo it's better to just add extra ram so that the user can just stay with a familiar os.
Likewise tablets and smartphones, buy decent specs, don't use cheap chargers and don't drop them too often and they just seem too last. And if they do slow down, then a factory reset is easy+fast and can bring them to life again. In my family an almost 10y old Shield K1 still works smoothly for daily online media consumption. A cheap Samsung and Microsoft surface from the same era are now giving a horrible experience though, but those 2 were always shit in comparison to the shield.
Bu-bu-but I'll DIE without the latest Macbook! 😭
yours and the parent comment are sniffing your own farts. You can't think of any other industries where a device cannot be fixed?
Seems you don't recognize humor when it slaps you in the face. No way Adanisi's comment was in any way meant to be taken serious.
Devices definitely can be fixed in this industry, especially older ones.
I'm very opposed to anti-repair features of modern devices but I'm not sure what that's got to do with my comment? If you get a good device you can use it for many years even without needing to repair it.
Most people don't replace a device because it's broken beyond repair (especially Apple users), rather they replace it because it's more than a few days old and they want a new one...