Planned obsolescence

Critical notes #12

Companies design products that are difficult or impossible to repair, with short lifetimes, or dependent on software that is never updated, among many other things. This way, they guarantee the continuity of the “production & sales” chain. For durable products are not good for business. It is necessary that the wheel keeps moving, that people continue throwing away stuff and buying new things, so that there is employment, so that there is growth, so that there is development…

Old and well-known words…

…to which we may add “so that there is waste in every corner of the planet, so that there is unmanageable pollution, so that there are slaves working in half the world, so that humanity consumes increasingly scarce resources to make a small percentage of human beings feel ‘happy’”. Important reasons that are usually left out of commercial ads (because it is necessary that the wheel keeps moving, that people keep buying and throwing away stuff, etc.).

Do we consider planned obsolescence in our libraries? Do we buy materials that we will soon have to discard, or do we focus on more sustainable, repairable, reusable elements? Do we opt for creative solutions, or we just go for the packages sold by advertising? Are we one more link in the “consumption & discard” chain, or are we trying to slow down or break that process, thinking about our future and the future of our planet?

Are we really committed to our “sustainability” discourse and statements? Or are those just… words?