Sunday, 21 January 2007
Toasters used to last a lifetime. Sweaters and book bags, too. Wristwatches — even inexpensive ones — were sent to repair shops when they stopped. Old TV sets were mended with new vacuum tubes.
But nowadays, if you're like most Americans, you send old computers to the trash heap. Hole-y socks are thrown away; 
who has time to darn them? And if the battery on your MP3 fizzles out after a year or two, you somehow think that's par for the course.
Hey, newer models are on store shelves anyway.
Fickle tastes, combined with ever-newer technology and the lure of easy credit, have changed our definition of what is disposable. It used to be that if a consumer spent $100 or more or something, he or she expected it would last a long time — whether it was a dishwasher or a good stereo. But today, many of us think nothing of spending $250 on a PDA that we'll only use for a few years — if that.
Disposability is even more pronounced with less expensive items. If the zipper on a backpack breaks, it often costs more to fix it than to buy a whole new backpack. So, you chuck it.
Manufacturers have picked up on the trend and are making things ever more cheaply, experts say. If you think things aren't made to last anymore, you're right.
The result is a vicious cycle of ever more disposable items coming to market.
It's capitalism on speed.
OBSOLESCENCE BY DESIGN
America's landfills are bulging with castoffs, but some of it isn't our fault as consumers. Many items are made to become obsolete almost as soon as we buy them — so we'll have to buy a new one in a few years. A 7-year-old computer can't get on the Internet, for example. Even a 3-year-old laptop may need to be upgraded to view video online.
Blame our market economy, says Sue Redding, a professor of industrial design at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Specifically, blame auto pioneer Henry Ford.
"He found out that the only way he could sell cars after a while was to actually create a new model and create a new market for it," she says. "He kind of created the model for the 20th Century, basically."
OBSOLESCENCE BY CHOICE
Of course, you can't blame Henry for everything. Old cell phones still work, yet we still covet the new ones. Ford may have created the model, but why do we buy into it?
It's partly because we're not as attached to that old cell phone as — say — your grandmother is to the old toaster she got as a wedding gift and still uses to this day, says Alan Hilfer, chief psychologist at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"From an emotional point of view, we aren't as invested," he says. "When your grandmother got a toaster, this was great. It heats up bread. It's got all this electricity in it. It was a marvelous thing."
No more.
"We are so bombarded with technology and electronics now, it has somewhat lost its luster," he says.
OBSOLESCENCE BY ... OUTSOURCING?
Beyond electronics, many items like socks, schoolbags, desk lamps and assemble-it-yourself furniture have become increasingly inexpensive, often because they're made cheaply abroad.
Why repair, when a new one costs less?
"We are addicted to cheap labor," Hilfer says. "Almost all manufacturers go abroad to put together either clothing or electronics or any of those things."
OBSOLESCENCE BY INDIFFERENCE
Money itself has become easier to spend without thinking — just swipe your debit card or apply for more credit, says Rachel Weingarten, president of the GTK Marketing Group in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"Money has become less tactile," she says. Some people even rationalize their credit-card purchases by the gains they get in frequent-flier miles, she adds. "They almost think they're doing a good deed by buying an iPod."
PLANNED OBSOLSCENCE
Since everything will eventually be thrown away, products are being made ever more cheaply, says Redding, the industrial design professor.
"It used to be that you wanted to build something really well so it would last a long time," she says. But, "because we're a market economy, we've done a really good job of training the user of today to throw things away when the style is obsolete. Manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon."
Further, so-called sustainable design has become focused on ensuring that things are recyclable, Redding says. A new toaster, for example, might be easily disassembled so the metal and plastic parts can be discarded separately.
"Sustainable design teaches people that taking something apart is better than making it to be durable," she says. "It's weird."
MAKING OBSOLSCENCE OBSOLETE
Have we reached the point of no return? Maybe. Maybe not. As things become ever-cheaper, some consumers may seek out the special, the unique, the handmade. "You're going to find consumers who just want something exquisite," Weingarten says.
"If you can find a cheap-o cashmere scarf on the street, it doesn't mean the same thing as if you actually become a connoisseur of the better things," she says. "There's an entire generation of people who are going to go back and want the custom suit."
Just as working from home is a centuries-old idea made to seem modern, so it could be with well-made items, she says.
"It really is in a way full circle."
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Stephanie Hoo is asap's business writer.
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