Thursday, September 12, 2013
Technology for Everyone!
Tens of thousands of people line up each year to attend E3, MacWorld, CES and other such events to be the first to experience everything new. Being an "early adopter" can even become a full-time job now, with youtube offering monetization options. But is there a downside to this fast-paced rate of change we are experiencing? It's not something that I've really stopped to think about much myself until now. It's like we're becoming addicted to "new". New phones, new laptops, new tablets, new cars. Getting your hands on a new toy is exciting. And there's that little rush of adrenalin when I first unbox a new gadget. Then there is all the electronic waste we're building up from our constant need for new items. I've seen landfills composed entirely of discarded computers and monitors. Just sitting out there. No recycling, no reuse. It's incredible to me. If we're going to continue to drive the ever-increasing rate of technological advancement, I think we also need to look at the other end, and take care of what's being discarded.
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Wonderful insight. I will use my laptop a little longer.
ReplyDeleteI like the message, but how would you reuse or recycle monitors? I prefer newer monitors because the old ones sometimes don't have the resolution to support newer applications.
ReplyDeleteI think if someone really smart could create a process to tear apart the old monitors, computers and such and reuse the actual materials, that would be better than just "hand me down" with technology.
DeleteRight? I mean, we have microbes that can eat plastics and different types of metals, so this should be able to be a thing. It's probably a matter of cost effectiveness and being able to easily reclaim the materials for new uses that is holding us back.
DeleteYes, we definitely need to look back and figure out how to recycle all that older technology. This is going to be more and more of an issue the longer we progress technologically as a society, and in the end it may be a big problem underlying the bigger problem of how we live our lives in this fast-paced world.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting point, and something that I haven't really thought of before. Maybe there are changes that we can make in the future to reuse and recycle these devices that we so casually throw away.
ReplyDeleteThe current problem with recycling, is that it is not lucrative. Some things just cost more to recycle than they are worth in the end. Technology needs to find cheaper and more effective ways to recycle things before this can become a reality.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely someone in your same boat where getting a new gadget is quite thrilling and ends up being something I look forward to often, and I concur that there should be a better way to reintegrate our technology waste. This will probably become a much bigger deal as we continue the "junk my stuff for the better thing" every year to two that we seem to have settled into.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I laugh at the people who make a big deal out of it when a new iPhone comes out every other week (or so it seems). In a way, though, it's not too much different how I get excited every time Nintendo releases a new system.
ReplyDeleteI think that I'm the same way, I'm not the type of person who needs the newest phone or tablet out there. When I do need laptop or phone, I do research and find the best fix for me. I really don't understand the people that have to have newest phone out there.
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