Yeah throwing out an entire computer because one little component is burnt out, or throwing out a whole component because one little connection is burnt out. And then there’s even micro soldering if you want to get surgical…
Or simply throwing a computer away because it’s slower than the new one. The price paid by the environment, by future generations, for e-waste needs to be front-loaded into the manufacturing process.
Otherwise companies are just stealing from the future and turning collective horizon into an unlivable garbage dump.
Its such a bummer because I would have went into electronic repair if I’d been born sooner. Right as I was thinking about it all the radioshacks were shutting down etc and everything became disposable and unfixable. Really sad because I enjoy fixing things. I just stick to old stuff now.
It sickens me how much has been thrown away just in the past 15 years, not to mention since the 50s…
Yeah and I feel like if we actually respected the nature and our fellow humans, made sure everything was mined as ethically as possible, everyone paid along the way got a living wage with self-determination, made to last, actual plans for disposal — all that. Then we’d actually cherish these devices like the amazing things that they are.
Sure we’d probably just be getting to the point of streaming video now, but I honestly don’t think we’d feel like we missed out.
The problem isn’t that it can’t be done, it’s that the manufacturing cost vs. labor cost in the US stops it from making economic sense. They do repair and reuse electronics in places like China (that’s where those modified GPUs with extra RAM and cheap desktop motherboards with old Xeon CPUs on them you find on EBay and Aliexpress come from, for example), but that’s because the technicians doing the work get paid a lot less than skilled people would be willing to accept here.
I remember as a kid my mum getting angry that she had to buy a new vacuum cleaner with more non-replaceable plastic parts. She was used to being able to just get a guy to fix it. It’s sad that that’s just everything now - even cars.
I have several old but working electronics and I literally haven’t been able to give them away for free. They’re probably going to end up in the eWaste trash. I don’t know if that leads to anything being reclaimed, but probably not.
I know what you mean, it makes me really wary to buy anything new because I know I’ll have trouble getting rid of what it’s replacing.
Luckily I’ve got some nephews that take a lot of hand-me-downs, but the breakneck speed of consumer electronics leads to some stuff becoming “obsolete” (read: harder to support) long before the hardware actually gives out.
Hey, uh, any ereaders or tablets in that pile? I need something basic I can just read comics or books with but all the used stuff around me is priced as new and the new stuff is priced insane.
If that CRT has a Trinitron tube it’d probably be pretty easy to find an arcade/retro gaming enthusiast in your area who’d want it (and probably even if not…)
I have several old but working electronics and I literally haven’t been able to give them away for free.
Few years ago I got a pile of old switches and other network stuff. Unmanaged 24 port gigabit switches, some firewalls and other network hardware you might find in a generic ~50 person office. No one wants them, but I don’t want to throw away working and (potentially) useful hardware either. I suppose I eventually have to as my own network doesn’t really need 200 ethernet ports and they are consuming the already crammed storage space I have.
And no, I’m not offering to ship them across the globe on my own expense. But trying to sell them on our version of craigslist for 15€ (shipping included) doesn’t seem to work either.
Yeah throwing out an entire computer because one little component is burnt out, or throwing out a whole component because one little connection is burnt out. And then there’s even micro soldering if you want to get surgical…
Or simply throwing a computer away because it’s slower than the new one. The price paid by the environment, by future generations, for e-waste needs to be front-loaded into the manufacturing process.
Otherwise companies are just stealing from the future and turning collective horizon into an unlivable garbage dump.
Its such a bummer because I would have went into electronic repair if I’d been born sooner. Right as I was thinking about it all the radioshacks were shutting down etc and everything became disposable and unfixable. Really sad because I enjoy fixing things. I just stick to old stuff now.
It sickens me how much has been thrown away just in the past 15 years, not to mention since the 50s…
Yeah and I feel like if we actually respected the nature and our fellow humans, made sure everything was mined as ethically as possible, everyone paid along the way got a living wage with self-determination, made to last, actual plans for disposal — all that. Then we’d actually cherish these devices like the amazing things that they are.
Sure we’d probably just be getting to the point of streaming video now, but I honestly don’t think we’d feel like we missed out.
The problem isn’t that it can’t be done, it’s that the manufacturing cost vs. labor cost in the US stops it from making economic sense. They do repair and reuse electronics in places like China (that’s where those modified GPUs with extra RAM and cheap desktop motherboards with old Xeon CPUs on them you find on EBay and Aliexpress come from, for example), but that’s because the technicians doing the work get paid a lot less than skilled people would be willing to accept here.
Also, much less labor law burden. No pesky ppe required while breathing toxic fumes!
I remember as a kid my mum getting angry that she had to buy a new vacuum cleaner with more non-replaceable plastic parts. She was used to being able to just get a guy to fix it. It’s sad that that’s just everything now - even cars.
I have several old but working electronics and I literally haven’t been able to give them away for free. They’re probably going to end up in the eWaste trash. I don’t know if that leads to anything being reclaimed, but probably not.
I know what you mean, it makes me really wary to buy anything new because I know I’ll have trouble getting rid of what it’s replacing.
Luckily I’ve got some nephews that take a lot of hand-me-downs, but the breakneck speed of consumer electronics leads to some stuff becoming “obsolete” (read: harder to support) long before the hardware actually gives out.
I will typically not buy a new thing if I don’t have a plan for the old one it replaced.
Hey, uh, any ereaders or tablets in that pile? I need something basic I can just read comics or books with but all the used stuff around me is priced as new and the new stuff is priced insane.
Sadly, no. Two ancient laptops (circa 2004, 2008) and a 20-something inch crt with no HDMI.
If that CRT has a Trinitron tube it’d probably be pretty easy to find an arcade/retro gaming enthusiast in your area who’d want it (and probably even if not…)
Few years ago I got a pile of old switches and other network stuff. Unmanaged 24 port gigabit switches, some firewalls and other network hardware you might find in a generic ~50 person office. No one wants them, but I don’t want to throw away working and (potentially) useful hardware either. I suppose I eventually have to as my own network doesn’t really need 200 ethernet ports and they are consuming the already crammed storage space I have.
And no, I’m not offering to ship them across the globe on my own expense. But trying to sell them on our version of craigslist for 15€ (shipping included) doesn’t seem to work either.