what do you think of tech becoming e-waste?

[cynderthekitsune]

i think this is a question i've been really wanting to ask for a while now.

to me, older tech doesn't mean it's inherently bad, albeit i myself would rather not go out of my way to get really old tech, i think older computers are fine.
like a processor such as a Core 2 Duo is fine today, and 8GB RAM is enough if you're willing to put up with a lightweight Linux distro or something.

i think older tech is still worth using, especially considering how cheap most are, how many are just becoming e-waste (which is often really harmful for the environment), and a lot of the tech now makes it seem like you need a brand new device every day.

imo i wouldn't go as far as to put up with dial-up on a Pentium 4 and 512MB of RAM on OpenBSD/Windows 98SE dual-boot, god no. but i mean a modest or even higher-end PC from the 2000s is still good enough today, it usually meets the minimum requirements (and sometimes recommended too) of various applications; while it won't at all run Windows 11, it's still plenty able to get things done with Linux and various open-source alternatives too ^_^

[Kie]

I think a lot of older tech holds up fine, and I'm a big proponent of using devices for as long as possible. The oldest devices that I still use are an mp4 player from the mid 2010s, a DSi and a digital camera from the same period, and an ipad I got as a gift almost 10 years ago (I am an hardcore apple hater, but I have to admit their devices hold up to the test of time really well), which I use to make digital art.

On one hand, I think we have at large been sold the lie that technology gets outdated fast, and that we need new hardwer every 2-3 years.
On the other, I'm afraid that it is actually becoming a reality. Not because tech inherently moves at a fast pace, but because many devices nowdays are not designed with longevity as a top priority. While in my life I've only ever had two laptops, a single digital camera, and a single mp3 player, I burned through a plethora of smartphones (at least 4, I think) in that same time frame. And I didn't switch to the latest model "just because" either: those phones had gotten to a point where they were legit unusable. At the same time, my first ever phone, a secondhand Blackberry, is still functioning to this day.

Not only many modern devices "burn up" fast: they are also getting increasingly harder to repair. Many companies don't even offer foundamental spare parts like phone screens anymore, and more and more laptops are showing up with welded components instead of bolted ones.

That's to say that tech becoming quickly outdated is a manufactured phenomenon. I don't think devices are "built to break" like some people propose, but they are definitely not "built to last" either, and not offering essential repair parts is just making this worse.
So although I don't think the old tech of today is ewaste, I think that the old tech of tomorrow will be. That's why I'm a big proponent of pushing for right to repair and longevity-first design ~ 

[AY38910]

Still using a 2008 netbook for everything...

[bby]

i use my devices for as long as i can until it just doesn't work anymore. my family kind of instilled this in me at an early age; i can't even tell you how many things we've saved from the dump that still work perfectly fine and just needed a little tlc and cleaning.  hell, i'm sitting on a computer chair we salvaged from there back in the day! and i just recently got a netbook and keyboard from a local store that also just needs some cleaning and a new charger.

my current desktop is almost 7 years old, and even though i am going to be building a new one, i will still be saving and reusing the parts of this. recently, i upgraded my laptop from 2016 to have linux mint. when i was in high school, i saved the hard drive from an old laptop and turned it into an external hd. i bought my tablet second hand a couple years ago and i've had my smartphone since 2021. i haaate how many smartphones i've owned since my first one in 2009, it's only 5 which is still a pretty good number all things considered, but it still feels like too much. if i could, i would still be rocking my motorola droid with the physical keyboard (although all the keys eventually just peeled off due to how much i used it over the touchscreen ).

even outside of tech, i hate to see people just junk stuff without even attempting to repair it. i can understand if it ends up becoming a health hazard of course, like having to junk a teflon pan covered in scratches. but most of the time things can be saved or at worse scrapped for parts and recycled. and tons of people throw out perfectly fine things just because they got something new.

also, eventually you may run into the issue where the cost may just not be worth the effort to repair it. like the aforementioned computer chair. i've had this since the late 00s, but the wheels are breaking off and it's becoming uncomfortable. eventually this will have to be tossed, but i extended the life of it so much more than it would have been if we didn't end up saving it all those years ago.

i think more people should just start putting any unwanted tech up at a yard sale or something first before considering throwing it away. i know if you don't have the money, time, or resources that is isn't always feesable though.

[cynderthekitsune]

Not only many modern devices "burn up" fast: they are also getting increasingly harder to repair. Many companies don't even offer foundamental spare parts like phone screens anymore, and more and more laptops are showing up with welded components instead of bolted ones.

yeah, that's really the reality we live in now.
planned obscolesence is pretty common, not just for cheapo crap but also for the more expensive stuff too...

one of my social support workers once told me his MSI Titan was dying not even half a year(ish) since he got it, and it finally died around a solid year after he got it. and this was the exact same pattern for my MSI Cyborg (a cheaper model)
and i can't even recall the amount of Android phones i have that have been unsupported for eons now, but many of them were cheap, so i can't really blame them all too much. but my fist smartphone was on Android 9 when we got it... and it's on Android 10 for the rest of time. plus it's soldered and locked down hard so i can't even unlock the bootloader or anything

also, yeah Apple devices really do last a long time! my iPhone SE 2nd gen is from 2021 (okay not a whole lot long ago, but i was in year 8 in high school then) and i don't know if i still have it, but the only major problem it really got was about ~85% battery health, and that phone in general had a smol battery so it couldn't even last half an hour off charge when playing video game LMAOO but otherwise, i liked it. it was pretty cute too.
and my iPad 4th gen (childhood tablet, from ~2012) is still here to this day, it's in near perfect condition (it was in a case most of its life lmao), but i simply don't use it cuz it has almost literally no support for it lol

i think especially, if you (the reader) needs to buy a new device, firstly consider if you really need to.
if it 'burns up' really fast, then maybe get something that will actually last a while.
and in general, buy older hardware, if you absolutely need new hardware. don't buy new hardware if you don't need it.
buying older hardware not only helps the environment (less e-waste generally), but you also save pretty big on money! (unless it's a game console then go figure a PSP 3000 is A$500 now on eBay)

[AY38910]

i use my devices for as long as i can until it just doesn't work anymore. my family kind of instilled this in me at an early age; i can't even tell you how many things we've saved from the dump that still work perfectly fine and just needed a little tlc and cleaning.  hell, i'm sitting on a computer chair we salvaged from there back in the day! and i just recently got a netbook and keyboard from a local store that also just needs some cleaning and a new charger.

my current desktop is almost 7 years old, and even though i am going to be building a new one, i will still be saving and reusing the parts of this. recently, i upgraded my laptop from 2016 to have linux mint. when i was in high school, i saved the hard drive from an old laptop and turned it into an external hd. i bought my tablet second hand a couple years ago and i've had my smartphone since 2021. i haaate how many smartphones i've owned since my first one in 2009, it's only 5 which is still a pretty good number all things considered, but it still feels like too much. if i could, i would still be rocking my motorola droid with the physical keyboard (although all the keys eventually just peeled off due to how much i used it over the touchscreen ).

even outside of tech, i hate to see people just junk stuff without even attempting to repair it. i can understand if it ends up becoming a health hazard of course, like having to junk a teflon pan covered in scratches. but most of the time things can be saved or at worse scrapped for parts and recycled. and tons of people throw out perfectly fine things just because they got something new.

also, eventually you may run into the issue where the cost may just not be worth the effort to repair it. like the aforementioned computer chair. i've had this since the late 00s, but the wheels are breaking off and it's becoming uncomfortable. eventually this will have to be tossed, but i extended the life of it so much more than it would have been if we didn't end up saving it all those years ago.

i think more people should just start putting any unwanted tech up at a yard sale or something first before considering throwing it away. i know if you don't have the money, time, or resources that is isn't always feesable though.

Same. Fun fact, my current main laptop was rescued from a trashcan. Dad had thrown it into the office bin and I snuck it out and cleaned it up and all. The hardware and software were fine, so was the firmware, since it booted. All it needed was some defragging so that it was fast again and some cleaning because the fans were clogged up with dog fur (this second part was probably Lua's fault, she keeps napping on the office room (we live in a huge house that was a luxury apartment from the 70s, was really cheap because it needed somd reforms, so we have the bedrooms, kitchen, hall, living room, 2 bathrooms and 2 spare rooms that one we used as library and the other as some kind of office/computer room thing mom works from sometimes and where all the computers except mine, the homebox, the oldest Mac and the XT are, and the previous owner connected the attic to the house with a ladder and a trapdoor...we were very lucky with this house haha. My PC is in my room, the XT and the ancient Mac are in the attic and the homebox is in the living room and OK I'll stop rambling about how big my house is. Oh btw it also has a swimming pool in the garden))

[chxshire22]

a lot of stuff especially from 2010s are still good to use today.

my friends and i generally love checking out our electronic dump areas, and salvaging anything we might wna use. he recently salvaged an escooter.
i'm trying to make a 2017 lenovo laptop work. 

it really helps when you know what to fix, how to fix, and where to get the materials to fix.

[brisray]

I don't think many things have planned obsolescence is just that they are built to a price. If people wanted stuff that lasts forever then manufacturers would make it, but everything would cost a lot more.

Technology is always improving and there's always something nicer, faster, better to own. I'm among the people who if something still works, will keep it for as long as I can. If it stops working, then I'll have a go at fixing it. Some things you just can't do that without a lot of knowledge and skill because the parts are no longer available.

We had a nice over-stove extractor that's now lying in bits. It had lights, fans, extra outlets but the main circuit board and half the wiring loom is fried. It's 40 years old and I can't find the replacement parts anywhere.

I run my own little web server on a 2016 Dell Inspiron 3847 running Windows 10. It's among the ones that cannot be updated to Windows 11. That means around July, I am going to have to decide what to do with it; buy a new one, put Linux on it or just install Windows 11 anyway.

I'm leaning towrds buying a new PC, so what I'll do with the old one is put Linux on it and do what I do with my other old computer stuff, and give it way. I'm the guy my friends and their friends come to to get their computers fixed. Some are not very well off and using computers that should have been junked years ago. The last was just a few weeks ago, they were running Windows 10 on some ancient Celeron. You could go and make a pot of coffee while the thing was loading anything.

What I do before throwing away anything like that is remove all replaceable bits; RAM, drive, power supply, even the screws, and save them. I've got another two laptops that I need to look at, if I've got the bits to make them last a few more years, then I'll use my collection to do that.