It’s
that time of year again.
No, I’m
not talking of the time of year when I start filling up my volunteering
calendar, though that’s happening too.
I’m
talking about the time of year when people around the world look at their
one-year-old phones, tablets, computers, or gaming device, and think “why on
earth did I spend so much money on this? It’s SO OLD!” and proceed to purchase,
at great expense, the newest model on offer, tossing aside their current,
perfectly functional, device.
Now
I know I sound a bit cynical, and sometimes the advancements in technology
really are impressive or really do make a positive impact in our busy lives.
But
the marketing directors at top electronics and design houses have an extra ace
up their sleeve: the concept of planned obsolescence, or in the words of Brooks Stevens, the man who made the idea famous the concept of “instilling
in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a
little sooner than is necessary”.
This
evil little term is why our relatively new items of clothing or technology
suddenly seem incredibly outdated after just a year or two. It I why things are
not backwards-compatible (for example, why something saved in .docx may not
work on a computer running an older version of Microsoft office, or why the new
Nintendo games don’t work on previous GameBoys).
It
is also why so many products these days are not ‘built to last’. If something
breaks beyond repair, if that breakage was in-built but undetectably so, the
consumer has to spend money to replace it. Or why the cost of repairing
something is so ridiculously out of proportion to the cost of purchasing a new
one, and that you may as well just buy new. Forever.
The
origins of planned obsolescence were reasonable enough. It was thought out as a
way to get consumers spending again during the great depression. Which is all
well and good. But now this system is being applied to luxury items, which many
people can ill afford to buy new every year. I know I can’t. But yet there is
still pressure. The “ooo, that’s pretty!” or “ooo a new type of camera in the
phone which does exactly one new thing and is totally worth an extra $500!” is
heard every year.
Unfortunately,
planned obsolescence is here to stay. I would hazard a guess that even now, only a
couple days after their latest release, the big whigs at Samsung
already know exactly what the Samsun Galaxy 5 will look like, and what it will
contain, even if they haven’t quite worked out all the technical stuff yet.
So
if you want to avoid paying out extra money because of planned obsolescence,
here are some useful rules to follow:
1-
Purchase something because you need it, not because it’s pretty. A major
purchase should serve a useful purpose in your life, one that was not filled by
your previous item, or to replace the loss of a previous item.
2-
Read the customer reviews. If customers are reporting serious flaws in the
product, then it might not be a good purchase! Search for the name of the
device, including product number if necessary + customer reviews, and read a
variety of reviews from a variety of sites. Read both the top and bottom
reviews to get a better picture of the strengths and weaknesses of a device.
3- Get
a good warranty. Invest in a warranty that at the very least covers the minimum
amount of time you want your product to last. When I purchased my laptop, for
instance, I bought a 3-year warranty because I wanted it to last at least three
years. It has now lasted 3.5, and though I’m now out of warranty, I still
believe I made the right decision.
4-
Understand your warranty. Read through the warranty information carefully. If
something happens to your item, you need to know who to call, what to do, and
what might invalidate a warranty. For example, trying to fix a computer problem
yourself, instead of bringing it to an accredited repair site, can make a
warranty void. If you respect the warranty, and have a breakage to your item,
you should have the repairs made at no extra cost, and you may receive a free
replacement, especially if your device is no longer sold.
5-
Accept that your items will no longer look shiny and new, and that that’s ok.
For years, I had a dumb phone (you know, the opposite of a smart phone), even
when smart phones were all the rage. My answer, when people ask how I could
live with such a ridiculously low-tech piece of kit? “I use my phone to phone
people, and it phones them rather well, thanks very much.” There isn’t really a
good comeback to that!
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