This is one of those contradictions in capitalism that clearly get under my skin and irks the everloving crap out of me, but CNBC is crying over how "Americans are holding into devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy." OH NOES, NOT THE ECONOMY! DON'T YOU WANNA CONSOOM? PLEASE CONSOOM, SO BUSINESSES CAN MAKE MONEY, AND THE JOB CREATORS CAN MAKE JOBS MAKING DEVICES FOR YOU TO CONSOOM! It's stupid and I want to address this from my standpoint, both as a tech bro type, and as a human centered capitalist.
So, first, let's discuss economic theory. This idea makes sense in a consumerist economy and aligns with research I've done on this stuff as of late. 100 years ago we could've shifted in the direction of working less, but the powers that be didn't want that because they feared what the masses would do if they actually had free time and the economy wasn't at the center of their lives. People might not buy things, and businesses might have less opportunities to make money. We can't have that! From a work perspective, people might decide that capitalism and the consumerist and workaholic lives we need aren't worth it, we can't have that either! So instead, we imposed a form of "plato's cave" on people where life is a massive rat race of work and consumption with no real purpose. We believe work is our purpose, but that's a bunch of nonsense. Our purpose is whatever we want it to be. Life is a sandbox and instead we're forced to play monopoly on the losing side, just struggling to always keep our heads above water. It's BS, let me tell you.
But yeah, basically, buying fewer devices is bad because businesses make less money. And that's bad, because they won't produce as many jobs. And we can't have that!
But, has anyone asked us what we think? Of course, the policy makers don't care what we little people think, they just care what their billionaire donors think. They took over the political system, we have two parties which amount to coke or pepsi (although coke is basically becoming rather toxic lately), and it's just a matter of what flavor of corporate rule you want. Neither wants to liberate us from this cycle, they just debate about who does a better job with "creating jobs" and managing the system and all that jazz.
But, I dont care what those rich guys think so I'm gonna give my opinion anyway. So...human centered capitalism. Rather than it being based around job creation and trickle down economics, I believe in trickle UP economics. I believe in giving money to the people and people making the decisions about what is good for them. If people want a product, they'll buy it. If they don't, they won't. The economy exists to serve us, not we the economy. That's how it should work in theory. We love to frame capitalism as freedom of choice, but the second we peasants use our "freedom" in ways the elites dont like, all of the sudden we're bad for it. "Why aren't you consooming? why aren't you working? You're killing the economy!" F your economy. no, really, F it. I don't care about your profit margins. Corporations exist to serve the people by providing goods and services, if we dont have use for your goods and services, well, too bad! Amazing how these guys cope and seethe when the same logic they apply to us peasants suddenly applies to them and they have to find a new way to be useful to people.
Or...we can just do planned obsolescence, which is their answer to this. So, planned obsolescence. Common in many industries today, especially common in computing. The premise is simple. Why make a product so good people never wanna buy it again when we can milk people and make them buy products every few years because they break? Or are otherwise obsolete? We used to hear about how bad in the 1960s boomers had these appliances that lasted 30-40 years. I remember growing up with my parents having these old 60s/70s era devices well into the 90s, with them only breaking in the 2000s. Now we gotta rebuy stuff every 10 years or so. Why? because they make them cheaper. Oh, it broke, gee, that's too bad, well you can buy a new one for only $999! And that's how they get you. And that's why Americans struggle to keep their heads above water. The system isnt designed for most americans to get ahead. if people start to "win" at capitalism, it means they have enough money and a comfortable enough living standard to never have to work again! We can't have that. So we make things so that they break, so you gotta to out and buy new thing.
Now, computing. Computing historically has been very consumption heavy. Obsolescence is built into the business model. In the past, it was mostly necessary. From the 70s through the 2010s, computers advanced at such a fast rate that anything you buy now will be obsolete by this time next year. And then games, applications, etc., start requiring more power. So after 2-6 years you'd have to buy something new again.
And for a while it was actually worth it. Like game consoles. Back in the 90s and 2000s graphics evolved at such a rapid pace you'd see progress as it happens. Every year the games looked grander, more realistic. Well, this started slowing down in the 2010s as we started hitting various stages of stagnation. Intel hit a wall, AMD fell apart on CPUs, and 2011 era parts lasted well into 2017 as a result with little progress. GPUs are doing this as well in the modern era. Nvidia is still progressing, but new products are more and more expensive. And they're trying to extract more profit out of people. And because of disproportionate demand from people like crypto buyers in the late 2010s and early 2020s, AI data centers as of late, and just, the top 20% having more money than everyone else combined and wielding that money in the consumer economy, well, prices are high, and people don't wanna consume. Then consider general inflation with everything else rising the cost of living, and now trump's tariffs screwing everything up.
Gee, why don't people wanna spend?! A few years ago it was "no one wants to work any more" and now it's "no one wants to consume any more!" It's like, we're a battered spouse being gaslit by an abusive partner asking us why we aren't doing XYZ, when quite frankly, it's not even worth it any more. Said partner isn't giving us anything, isn't putting in the effort, is making our lives a living hell, and then asking why we aren't engaging in reciprocity with them. They're GASLIGHTING us. They're saying the problem is us, when it's really them. They've underpaid us for years, our living standards have declined, and then they raised the prices of everything and wonder why we aren't spending. Gee, maybe because WE CAN'T?!
Also, as someone who is financially tight, I don't really WANT TO buy new stuff. I kind of look at doing so with dread. At this point, we're buying new phones that do exactly the same thing our old ones do, just a little better. The tech is mature enough where many of us dont have a true need for more power. And what's really driving us to upgrade is the planned obsolescence. And let's be frank, I HATE replacing devices because of planned obsolescence. Again, back in the 90s and 2000s, and in the mobile space in the 2010s, it felt like there was more innovation. New products were genuinely better than older ones. Nowadays, it's like, yeah, this 3 year old phone or tablet would still be adequate but now the android version is out of date and no longer getting updates, or apple is LITERALLY SLOWING IT DOWN INTENTIONALLY, the battery life is half what it started at because lithium ion degrades, or the device goes dead from age. These things aren't designed to last very long, and they're basically designed to make us upgrade every few years. I know I'm upgrading my family's tablets this year. They're 5 years old, which is an eternity in mobile device terms. My mom's died. Mine and my dad's are still working, but for how long will they still work? It's actually strange how long they've held on since normally wear and tear forces device upgrades every 3 years or so. But yeah, we dont wanna be caught out with our devices dying so we're upgrading while we can afford it.
It's similar with computers. Like, there used to be a genuine incentive to upgrade. More power. Games look so much better than they did 3-5 years ago, the old system can't run new ones well, so we need a new one to upgrade. But nowadays, it's like we're upgrading just for random BS like ray tracing and other things that dont really contribute to the experience. And me personally? I dont LIKE to upgrade all of the time. It isnt worth it given how slow actual progress is. Since the 2010s I've just wanted to run my devices as long as possible. Eventually upgrading is worth it but it takes a huge amount of time, and what mostly drives me to upgrade is, again, obsolescence. And it's getting more and more expensive, the benefits are less and less, and I feel like i'm just throwing out all of this money to keep doing what i always did, with BS artificial segmentation to keep me buying to make some rich person rich. Quite frankly, I think we've peaked with progress, and can afford to slow down. Stuff isn't getting appreciably better, as long as what we have works, it works, and did I mention I really hate putting money out on upgrades that feel unnecessary but are necessary simply because of consumerism? Like, I dont wanna upgrade just to give a rich guy money. That's rent seeking behavior, and I resent it. My own economic model is intended to increase individual independence, and being forced to shell out money for new stuff we dont need due to reasons that feel BS and artificial just forces us in a cycle of dependence. Hell, this whole system is a massive cycle of dependence. Again, this whole system is intended to feel like a race you can never really win. We always talk about "getting ahead", but the system is literally designed to stop us from doing that. Because if you "win" at capitalism, that means you're in a position where you can stop working, and stop consuming, and quite frankly, THEY (the nebulous they, but you know who I mean, the wealthy class) don't want that. They want you to keep working your lives away, and then spend your tokens at the company store. And that's life in this system as it is. Forever.
And that's why, when people decide they're fine with older devices, that's such a crisis for this system. Because the model is "no, you throw away your old perfectly working device and buy a new perfectly working device." Or they sabotage your device to make sure they dont remain perfectly working for long, to force you to shell out for new upgrades. Point is, they dont want people buying devices once every 5-10 years when they can make you upgrade every 2-3. And honestly, that's probably what they'll do to fix this. MORE planned obsolescence. More battery degradation, or other faults in the device causing them to randomly die after an expected lifespan. More software upgrades that older devices don't get, making upgrading mandatory. Because again, if you actually "get ahead" and are happy with your current devices, then you won't buy new stuff. And companies might not make as much money. And we can't have that, now can we?
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