The Narrow Balance of Obsolescence.

I keep stuff around for a long time. I still wear shirts that I have had since I was in seventh grade. I still use a cell phone that was manufactured in 2004. I still use a computer that I composed in 2002. I use stuff until it breaks, then somehow fix it, and continue to use it.  Yesterday, or early this morning, I finally bought a new computer, a laptop, it is already in the mail. The computer will, no doubt, do everything my old computer did and more. Thus I will find myself using my new computer more and the old one shall gather dust and retire into a state of unusable obsolescence. I used it all that I can. It will still do most of the tasks that I need it to do, so why should I replace it and get a new one? Rhetorical questions need no answers.

This Christmas' most wanted gifts are of the electronic variety, the new aged electronic variety. Unlike electronics and appliances of a generation ago (the eighties, yes, you are old), these new items are designed for obsolescence. Without a replaceable battery, that music player/pmp/ebook reader/cell phone machine device in a few years will have the capability of holding a change shorter than the lifespan of a Klondike bar in the heat of summer. Those plastic hinges on that laptop are going to break or become looser than a the sleeve of an anorexic wizard. The buttons on that shirt are all going to fall off since they were already falling off when you bought it. Those millions of Kinects will be gathering dust, since that thing that it plugs into is reaching the end of its life cycle or planned obsolescence.

Back then products were different (and I remember because my father used to bring that old stuff home). A thirty day warranty would be laughed at. That was a good time for stereo receivers, they were build like tanks, and weighed about the same. Japanese companies at that time were fighting for to put out the best product, and with the mass production of transistors instead of varying quality of tubes you could not go wrong.

It evolution of consumer goods has even reached products that typically were designed to last many many years, and were just about the second most expensive purchase people made, Automobiles. Now with shorter warranty, and corners cut to angles, a person is lucky to reach 150,000 miles in their vehicle.

I guess they figured that, you make more money when people have to continue to keep buying your products. I guess that started with the disposable razor. (FYI: you can use a disposable razor more than once, (and also those things are fricking expensive, there has to be some type of price gouging or collusion))

There could be some 'good' that comes from this. Consumerism fuels the economy, when people are influence into buying and are forced into buying a product, some lady in China can put food on the table, a dude in a high rise can buy a new Rolls, and you have a working cell phone.




And how did my shirt, cell phone, and computer survive for so long? My shirt is from J-Crew, a gift from my sister, if I button should fall off, my mother can easily sow it back on, (although I should learn to sow back on a button, everyone that wears clothes with buttons should). My cell phone, a Nokia 6230, Nokia is known for its durability, and their ability to just plain work. It came with features that are found standard on todays phones with expandable memory, bluetooth, 'apps', and such. My computer, I was the one who assembled it and maintained it.

 HAPPY THREE HUNDREDTH POST!