Your Laptop Has More Than Three Years in It
I'm writing this post from a very noisy Asus gaming laptop. One of the fan broke again. It was last serviced in August for this exact same reason. Apparently a piece of plastic from the broken right hinge got into the fan and destroyed it. Thankfully I couldn't hear the noise with my headphones on, and I'm writing this in a dead mall where my laptop repair shop is located. I have been their customer since 2021 when I dropped this laptop from the top bunk of a bed (don't ask). No wonder the hinge is messed up now. Since then the laptop has issues here and there, but for the most part it works all right.
"I got this laptop in 2020," I told the repairman.
"Oh? That's great. These days, getting more than three years out of a gaming laptop is good."
What the fuck, I thought. Then I thought of how my more affluent friends trade in their electronics for the newer version every year. I guess that's the reality nowadays. When did that become the new normal?
A lot of my tech are secondhand. Before this laptop, I used a 2011 iMac my dad got from his friend from 2013 to 2018, then an old MacBook Pro (I don't remember the year but it was very old, about the same age as the iMac) from 2018 to 2020. Both of these macs died for reasons unknown and I thought I already got my money's worth out of them, so as a replacement I got this Laptop new around mid-2020 according to the oldest file I can find on it. I've been using it pretty much every day since, mostly for writing and indie gaming.
On the phone front, I've been using an iPhone 7 Plus since roughly 2019. Its battery has degraded and I never replace it. "I'm replacing this phone soon anyway," I told people. I've been telling people that since then and still to this day (the phone is charging next to me as we speak). It still works. Barely, but as long as the banking apps work I consider that "working".
I'm used to using gadgets until they literally died in my arms. And I'm not gentle with them either. My phone has been thrown against the wall out of rage (not caused by it) more than once. My iPad is naked because I chose to spend my money on buffet and ice cream over a new case. They're still holding up aside from the short charging port scare. I thought this was the default way of using tech until I met my rich friends. Then I thought that's just what rich people do until I realise the rest of us are also trading in our perfectly usable phones and laptops for newer ones given the chance. Now I look insane going to repair shop in a dead mall trying to squeeze more out of my aging laptop.
Society at large have gotten used to the idea that tech is either brand-spanking new or completely unusable, and anything between those is not just unacceptable but a completely unknown concept. The problem with that is it's only possible for something to be new for so long, so the moment a gadget gets older than… I don't even know what's the acceptable age for a tech item anymore, it's regarded as "too old" and traded in for a new, shiny one. It's so easy to do so these days — you can go to an evil and intimidating1 Apple Store and get your data transferred to a new phone in seconds. It's way harder to actually fix your phone. I don't know how to do it myself either but I assume that if my local sketchy repair shop can replace Nan's iPhone 6 camera with a new (albeit worse) camera then it can be done. Or maybe you can't do it with a newer iPhones. I don't know anymore.
The point is, maybe we shouldn't do this? Maybe we should learn to live with slightly (or not so slightly) scuffed tech that still works? I genuinely don't know who started the idea of trading in. Apple? Microsoft? Capitalism as a whole?! Here are a couple reasons why we shouldn't do it.
It's overconsumption
You are making unnecessary purchases by trading in your perfectly usable tech for a new one. Even if you don't care about wasting money (which you should, but you do you. I also waste my money on overpriced ice cream), you probably should care about the environment since I assume you people reading this are going to be sticking around for at least another half a century. Now I don't know where traded-in electronics go. I assume they get refurbished and resold (if they don't end up in the landfill). That's still extra packaging that need to be manufactured and shipped. I'm not a particularly eco sort, but I still think we should reduce the amount of consumption overall. Buy less, not buy eco, you know.
The upgrades are actually worse
The enshittification is real, you guys. I don't even think this is an intentional, malicious doing to purposefully break your device so you buy a new one. I think people in Big Tech are genuinely either incompetent or replaced by AI. I run Windows 11. Every update breaks something. It's horrible. On the hardware side of thing, things break faster. Colors oxidises and chips. Hinges break at the slightest of hand. And the worst part is if your stuff doesn't break...
Technology has mostly plateaued
Unless you're somehow stuck with a phone from 2016 like I am, a new phone in 2026 isn't going to load up your content any faster than your current one does. Any faster and that's breaking the laws of physics. If you aren't able to stream a 4K video from YouTube without buffering, it's probably your internet's fault. We have long reached the point of diminishing return when it comes to technology. New phones aren't defined by their upgraded hardware specs but their (probably vibecoded) software-side features. Cameras have only been improving on the computational side for the past few years. MacBooks haven't had any significant innovation in them for years and everyone knows it.
In conclusion: just use what you already have until it dies. Don't just get a new one at the smallest of your inconvenience. Whatever problem you're having right now isn't going to be fixed with a new phone. You don't need it.
See how I'm being clever by being self-referential? Now subscribe.↩