• Doomsider@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    There need to be strong regulations to prevent this sort of Ewaste. As long as companies can get away with this they will.

    And no, voting with your pocket book isn’t going to change their behavior.

    • nosuchanon@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      While I agree that something needs to be done, stronger regulations will just be in an added requirement for the development of these devices, which will make it more expensive.

      You can’t have fast development, cheap things, and longevity. Companies will not invest in making those products because they’ll be out of business by the time their market is saturated.

      • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        That’s the point. If your business has to create a mountain of un-recyclable trash in order to thrive, it should absolutely fail.

        • nosuchanon@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          There has to be some sort of reasonable balance between new developments and longevity.

          Asking any engineer for a device that’s near indestructible but will continue to have software updates for 10 years is a hard ask.

          For a lot of devices right to repair would work just fine. Being able to swap out battery extends the life of most cell phones. But it’s an unreasonable request for that cell phone, for example, to be able to be supported for 10 years worth of software updates.

          It will slow the development cycle for a lot of devices down quite a bit. Which honestly is fine. I feel like a lot of products have reached maturity, and companies are reinventing them just for the sake of reinventing them and selling a “new” product with a new battery. I’m looking at you, Apple.

          The problem with determining what is an acceptable lifecycle for a product is that there will be no one left to support the product in 10 years if the company folds in the meantime. It is a significant drag on companies to support legacy products while also innovating and creating new products. It’s just a fact a fact.

          And from a consumer perspective, If you want cool, new fancy, shiny shit every year and for it to be reliable and last for 10 years, it’s just not gonna happen. We have been trained To buy new shit every year and desire that new shiny upgrade Without understanding that we’re getting cheap shitty products for a premium.

          Your $100” iPhone is now going to become a $3000 iPhone that lasts for five years instead of two. Tell me how that’s a win for anybody?

      • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works
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        8 hours ago

        Are you buying these u/a_random_idiot? /Jk

        Honestly though how are consumers supposed to know which ones will be a bust and which ones won’t?

      • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        No, this requires regulations to prevent massive amounts of Ewaste. Consumers can’t change this behavior.

        Like right to repair or privacy. We need real regulations. Corporations are too big and powerful and even something like choice has been turned into choosing which shitty corp you want to buy from.

      • BanMe@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        Blaming consumers for the behavior of corporations is a fallacy of capitalism… consumers act in their best interests, not necessary in everyone’s best interests, so we all suffer if everyone does that.