Contributed from Victoria

I don’t know how many people realise this yet. We live in the is age of high tech, and this high tech is purposely built not to last. nothing is built to last.

This is no accident. The making of products designed to deliberately cease working at a given point is not a new practice. Decades ago, it gained the title “planned obsolescence.” We are being fleeced. This practice is called planned obsolescence, and it is alive and well today, and it can only happen when an industry is dominated by one or a handful of corporations. Monopoly power can be applied to force customers to keep on buying new models, and the profit gains are enormous.

Having to change your mobile phone every few years is a waste, and this is backed with programs and apps, which also have planned obsolescence. Even if your device is still working, the system may no longer function. Is this necessary? It would be much fairer if mobile phone were designed last.

An essential part of shortening the life span of mobile phones and other devices, such as our PCs, tablets, and televisions, is to continuously force software upgrades, in a manner that prepares for system upgrades. Old systems are cancelled, and the customer is forced to buy a new model. Even if the old one does not break down.

It affects our cars and other transport vehicles. Not that these have never been immune from planned obsolescence. They are now heavily computerised, which expands the capacity for it.

As technology accelerates, so too does Australia’s electronic waste problem. The same story for PC’s, laptops, intelligent televisions. Australia currently creates 500,000 tonnes of e-waste a year. Creating this much waste is a major form of pollution. It also provides an opportunity for recycling rare and expensive earths that are essential for the high-tech industry. Recycling is not the problem. But the scale of the waste is.

Creating waste on a massive scale provides the high-tech monopolies a means to cut costs at the expense of the environment. The more e-waste the better for their bottom line.

Artificial Intelligence comes into the picture. This is lifting the opportunity for planned obsolescence to a new level. Expect even more frequent software and system updates.

One way to mitigate planned obsolescence is to make producers legally responsible for the waste they create. Others are to make their products more easily repairable, and new complements to be available and affordable, and of course, to stop the high-tech monopolies from dictating the terms on which they make their products available. Planned obsolescence should be made illegal.