Slaphead
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2008
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- Zürich, Switzerland
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Got to thinking last night about technology and moreover about the fact that we just have too much of it kicking around our homes with a much too short lifespan.
For example a quick count around the flat revealed 12 LCD colour monitors of various sizes (not including the TV which is still CRT) on various devices, of which the oldest is about 4 years old (This is only the stuff thats in use and not the old stuff thats packed away in the cellar). Of these devices I would expect 50% to be retired and replaced over the next 1-2 years
15 years ago there would have probably been at most 3 colour screens (2 TVs and possibly a computer monitor). The 2 TVs would probably be expected to last 10 years or more, and they would be repaired if they went wrong (in fact our TV is 15 years old now).
15 years ago if you had a 5 year old SLR and it stopped working you would probably have had it fixed. These days if a dSLR breaks down after 3 years you'll probably throw it away and buy a new one because the cost of repairing it is more than the camera is worth (assuming you haven't already been infected with upgradeitis and replaced it anyway).
Computers - when they're over 3 years old and something major goes wrong with it it's probably not worth repairing (especially laptops). After 5 years you probably won't be able to get the parts to repair it anyway.
Mobile phones - How old is yours? 3 years maximum for the majority of us I'll guess although I'm tempted to say 2 - and I'll bet you bought your current one as an upgrade and not because the old one died. I also doubt that you could have a 2 year old mobile phone repaired anyway.
I don't think that anybody that knows me would consider me an environmentalist, but the amount of stuff that we're throwing away these days scares the hell out of me.
Maybe I'm just getting too old (40 now) and even though I work in IT I just find everything moves too fast for it's own good. Nothing has the time to really settle down, mature, and become rock solid stable before a new "must have" technology comes along and breaks everything again.
Sooner or later something has to give
Sorry for the rant - just feeling a bit overwhelmed today.
For example a quick count around the flat revealed 12 LCD colour monitors of various sizes (not including the TV which is still CRT) on various devices, of which the oldest is about 4 years old (This is only the stuff thats in use and not the old stuff thats packed away in the cellar). Of these devices I would expect 50% to be retired and replaced over the next 1-2 years
15 years ago there would have probably been at most 3 colour screens (2 TVs and possibly a computer monitor). The 2 TVs would probably be expected to last 10 years or more, and they would be repaired if they went wrong (in fact our TV is 15 years old now).
15 years ago if you had a 5 year old SLR and it stopped working you would probably have had it fixed. These days if a dSLR breaks down after 3 years you'll probably throw it away and buy a new one because the cost of repairing it is more than the camera is worth (assuming you haven't already been infected with upgradeitis and replaced it anyway).
Computers - when they're over 3 years old and something major goes wrong with it it's probably not worth repairing (especially laptops). After 5 years you probably won't be able to get the parts to repair it anyway.
Mobile phones - How old is yours? 3 years maximum for the majority of us I'll guess although I'm tempted to say 2 - and I'll bet you bought your current one as an upgrade and not because the old one died. I also doubt that you could have a 2 year old mobile phone repaired anyway.
I don't think that anybody that knows me would consider me an environmentalist, but the amount of stuff that we're throwing away these days scares the hell out of me.
Maybe I'm just getting too old (40 now) and even though I work in IT I just find everything moves too fast for it's own good. Nothing has the time to really settle down, mature, and become rock solid stable before a new "must have" technology comes along and breaks everything again.
Sooner or later something has to give
Sorry for the rant - just feeling a bit overwhelmed today.