Economics

The idea, that keeping a device for more than two years is "short term" thinking that could doom the economy, is a pretty damning indictment on the state of your economy.

Jesus Christ, when did choosing not to throw away a perfectly good device become "device hoarding"?

Companies act like the general population simply OWES them business. We do not.

On that note, please refuse to participate in Black Friday and keep your Christmas low key and sentimental.

"Americans are producing less e-waste and getting more value out of their purchases, and this is bad for rich people!"

Anyone who writes a headline like this should be chained to a bale of ewaste and thrown into the ocean.

Continuing to use something that still works is Hoarding? The shear fucking gall. They're literally having to misuse the word "hoard" because they couldn't think of a word for "sticking with something that works" with negative enough connotations.

Oh no not the economy 😭😔

Not constantly throwing away things that are still good is "device hoarding" now? Strong "quiet quitting" vibes there.

29 months

squeezing as much life out of your device as possible

Dude, my average phone age is 7 years. I'm now on my 3rd since smartphones exist.

What do US people do with their phones? Even my dad (a farmer) has them longer and he loses them sometimes in the field or drives them over.

The economy can go fuck itself. I'd rather have a society and an ecology.

Oh no! Not the economy 😭

Me, reading this on my 86 month old phone and feeling like the left's greatest hero for dealing such a mighty blow to capitalism.

29 months is "as much as possible"? My phone is from 2016 and it works fine!

Fuck the economy.

Wait why the f are the consumers being blamed for the economy?

Who is only getting 29 months out of a smart phone? What are you doing?

device hoarding

Get the fuck out of here.

This whole thing reads like satire.

And not like the whole semiconductor industry is one of the most environmentally toxic ones. Better keep your phone/computer as long as possible.

It might be bad for the economy, but it's better for the environment, for the amount of money available for rent, food, insurance, emergencies...

My $1000 piece of electronics lasted 2 years! YAYYYY!!!!

Who the fuck decided to predicate the economy on a <2-year upgrade cycle for electronics?! Tim Apple is that you?

No you fucking dolt, it is saving the economy a ton of money to spend on other things.

If the economy depends in us buying new phones every two years, then maybe the economy wasn't as strong as we thought it was.

There is no need to upgrade devices every two years ago, which used to be the norm. A decade or more ago, each new generation of phone was a huge leap forward. Today, not so much. Maybe a marginally better camera or a touch more battery life, but nothing earth shattering, and the camera and battery life on my "ancient" Pixel 6 Pro are more than adequate for my needs. I'll probably upgrade in the next year or so, to a used Pixel 9, because the price of them used has plummeted since the release of the Pixel 10, and the Pixel 6 is nearing the end of its support by GrapheneOS.

It's costing whose economy? Every purchase that anyone makes costs them more than it should, with that "more" going directly into the pockets of wealthy owners who provide little or no value. When people purchase less, they are primarily hurting those wealthy owners.

The issue isn't money, it's the complete and utter lack of innovation on the devices being sold.

Quality is another issue. I was forced to buy a new phone, and ended up with a OnePlus. The software is so broken that I can no longer use my launcher I've used for a decade now. The home button glitches out when I do.

Good.

The fuck it is

Reduce the amount of disposable income across the board, then start moaning that people arent buying shit they dont need as much... The utter fucking state of these people.

Zero people really need a new phone every two years, that's crazy. This economy and sadly a lot of jobs are based on some wild idea of endless consumption which is just not sustainable, especially when your customer base is getting poorer by the day.

Ive had my phone for upwards of 4 years now, and I plan on keeping it for at least another 4 unless something tragic happens. Oops sorry I guess I can't afford food this week kids, those billionaires and investors might lose money so I have to go get a new phone

The law of diminishing returns has entered the chat.

My internet service provider, for example, offered 500 MBPS and recently came out with a plan that was $20 per month cheaper and only offered 100 MBPS and I jumped on it as fast as I possibly could because I don't need 500 MBPS ever.

I was going to make a joke about needing to buy a $1000 iphone every 6 months to save the economy, but then I went to the apple site to make sure I wasn’t being hyperbolic…

Christ on a fucking cracker! the latest iPhone can cost up to $3,800 in my local currency! Just fucking blow my brains out, the world is cooked. Bury me with my 5 year old phone, it’s still got a few years left in it I reckon.

"cost the economy" when your economy is based on consumerism then not buying as fast destroys the economy.

Many workers report that aging devices stifle productivity, but like a favorite pair of shoes or an old sweater, they don’t want to give them up to learn the intricacies of a new device (which they’ll learn and then have to replace with another). Familiarity can trump productivity for many workers.

So first off I'm glad they mentioned this. However it's frustrating to see the first quote, "last month concludes that each additional year companies delay upgrading equipment results in a productivity decline of about one-third of a percent" which feels like real numbers versus the section I quoted which feel like vibes.

There is a cost in doing something and a cost in not doing something. Sometimes doing nothing is the best course of action.

(Now if getting a new device is a huge cost you should investigate where you can improve that process.)

I brought my s24 exactly because it's got 7yrs of updates. I suspect it'll need a new battery around 4yrs. If I'm lucky, that will let me hold out until Linux phones are more polished