By Dana Hashem
The
time has come for me to renew my mobile phone contract. Yes, once again,
I find myself bombarded with renewal offers from my current provider, while
competing operators fight hard to steal me away with promises of better
packages and wondrous handsets capable of anything from full-blown GPS to
intelligent voice recognition (heck, why would I want to talk to my friends
when I can talk to my phone?).
Apparently,
I’m supposed to take this opportunity to replace my old handset. There is
just one snag with this - I like the phone I have now. It works.
It’s familiar. There’s absolutely no reason that I should replace
it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that if it broke, I’d probably feel
more inclined to get it repaired than buy a new one. The problem is I can’t
shake the feeling that this attitude is socially unacceptable – I’m supposed to
yearn for the latest upgrade, and everyone around me thinks nothing of casting
their old phone aside regardless of whether it still works or not.
This
in itself may seem like an insignificant conundrum, but just think about it –
when it comes to IT equipment, this throwaway culture manifests itself
everywhere. Consumers and businesses alike turf out perfectly serviceable
kit all the time, and manufacturers certainly know how to press all the right
buttons to keep us hungry for more. The environmental consequences of
this are enormous, and somehow government initiatives like the WEEE directive
just don’t seem to be hitting the mark. To me, the solution to this
problem is simple; we need to make things last longer instead of discarding
them at the first sign of malfunction.
As the new government prepares to tighten the
nation’s belt – not to mention clamp down on the UK’s carbon footprint – it
should also be encouraging a more thrifty mentality towards the disposal of IT
equipment. Perhaps making IT repair more affordable would be a good place
to start?
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