This text is a small dissertation on various thoughts and findings that I had the opportunity to acquire about the events of the recent history of technology, what I seek with this is to explain in a concise way the relationships that exist between the so-called "planned obsolescence", Moderna exacerbated consumerism and its effects on the large masses of the population, so that it is possible to bring a very important reflection to the reader about what are the real objectives behind this reality and what can be done to go against this tide.
At first we need to understand the basic concept of what planned obsolescence is; in a nutshell this term can be understood as a strategy on the part of companies and manufacturers that makes consumer goods (in this specific case that I am addressing, electronics) have a lower useful life than their technology actually allows, but doing so purposefully. This is already something very well known and surely you must have read about something related to this in school. However, the explanation for this approach increases its complexity when taking into account a reality that worships materialism and consumerism in excess, and this is where the problems come in.
Starting with a very illustrative example: the smartphone.
Even a Zoomer (or NeoBoomer, Zoomber, etc) as the author of this text had the opportunity to follow the evolution of this tool during the last decades, whose main transition point occurred around 2010 with the popularization of the first touchscreen mobile phones that brought more interactivity especially with respect to the mobile Internet, and that are currently in the hands of all kinds of people. It is strange to think that in an interval of 10 years a device whose main function was to receive and make calls has evolved to the point of being considered a symbiotic pocket computer (and that knows practically everything about its users).
One of the most common things to find are advertisements for new smartphone models that promise to reinvent the wheel, have more processing, storage, more cameras, but that fail to do something as simple as a phone call right. And besides the scariest thing are the people conditioned with the impulse to always get the new versions of the devices; sometimes even going into debt because of an overpriced phone with a multimillion-dollar brand stamping the product to then basically get caught up in highly stimulating FAGMAN social networks and consuming cavalier doses of artificial dopamine all day, at least until they release another new version and the cycle repeats. This is essentially the modus operanti of the Consoomer.
But make no mistake, when we talk about these technologies everything is done with some very specific goal in mind. Have you ever stopped to think that even without any apparent problem in the devices you have, these advertisements aim to put in the consumer's head that certain things will become obsolete while in reality this is just a big lie?
Take current notebooks as an example; although there is no problem in using a notebook manufactured 5 or 10 years ago today for day-to-day tasks, a normie may believe just the opposite, he may say that "my system is very slow" and that "I need to update my equipment", when in fact this is not the fault of the machine but of the system itself, in this case Windows for example. To prove this point just install any decent Linux system on some older hardware and notice the performance difference.
I don't want to be a Linux evangelist here, and I don't judge who really needs or likes to use this OS, but in the long run Windows is more likely to become slow on less powered and humbler machines, irresponsible and obsolete to induce a new purchase on the part of the user. It was thought and designed with that in mind.
Another case is in relation to television sets, and this I can say from my own experience since for a long time I had a standart SHARP TV, which never presented image or sound problems and which already had more than 20 years in the family. One day at the time of the infamous 2014 World Cup my family decided to get an Samsung LED SmartTV, with a flat screen and the like, only to 5 years later begin to present problems in the image and be considered "obsolete" after the launch of a multitude of new models.
This is an easy contrast to notice and that also highlights the statement that the old devices were made to last, also taking into account the issue not only of software, but of hardware. Products produced from the last decade back have a greater ease and accessibility for repairs and such, which actively makes these goods have a very long service life. When we compare these devices with their new models, these characteristics are basically non-existent today, either because companies actively seek to limit as much as possible any modification or "unauthorized" change in their products (see Apple), or because the consumer is as previously said, stuck in the consumption cycle and no longer cares about having such power because as soon as his model breaks or stops working even for the most futile reason, he will buy a new one anyway.
There are plenty of examples, so I hope you understand my point here.
Understanding these first two questions, we then arrived at what I described in the title as "perfect storm". What happens when you put together these companies that sell objectively flimsy and overpriced tech crap and put them together with people who are so conditioned to the system that they would (and will) do anything to get the newest gadget they are offering at abusive prices? This is what I consider to be, in a few paragraphs, Modern Electronic Slavery.
The system does not just sell a consumer good, it wants to sell you a life, a dream, an expectation. And there are people who are exitentially empty and who even base their personality and lifestyle around these multimillion-dollar brands (trough brand association), objectively we live in a society that is subject to this without at least a critical thought on the part of the great consuming mass, swallowing any novelty as something innovative, beautiful and moral, but which in reality is much worse than things that already exist and have survived the test of time, but which have meanwhile been left aside to make way for these novelties, much more profitable in the short and medium term.
This can be observed not only in material products, but also in the media, video games and etc. Everything is made to be bought, consumed and discarded, thus repeating this cycle.
I imagine you are waiting for some kind of objective solution to this question, but this is a very complex topic and this is just a small introductory article to these ideas, what I want to make clear here is precisely to sensitize the reader to what is really happening around us.
So I invite you to reflect on this: do you really need a new computer? Do you really need a "high-end" smartphone? What do you really use in your day-to-day life? What is really and strictly vital, and what is simply futile?
These are questions that can help you develop a better reflection on the subject and also make a better use of these technologies.
Don't be a slave to the system and its will.
Luke Smith's article on "why old computers are better than modern ones"
Video by Mental Outlaw on "why old computers were faster"
Framework a company that produces modern notebooks with a focus on freedom of assembly, repair and configuration