Many of you will relate to what I am about to say: in our house, we still use the old blender and grinder appliance that, according to my mother, was bought around the time she got married (40 years ago, this year).

The machine is sturdy and has had parts replaced over the years, but it still outlived many newer versions that I have bought, mostly because their fancier names like ‘food processor’ were too tempting to resist. When the inevitable breakdown in the newer electronics began, my mother’s trusty repairman (also a mainstay for this generation) was usually unable to either find the right parts or have access to the newer technology that made these things work. The gadget was relegated to a corner, gathering dust until its inevitable journey to its final abode: the landfill.

What I have just described is planned obsolescence. Electronics, and even automobiles and clothing, from a few generations ago did not last longer simply because your father was better at looking after his microwave but because the microwave itself was built to last.

Most consumer electronics are now ‘built to fail’ where manufacturers deliberately design products to fail prematurely, with the failure built into the design of the product, such as software becoming out of date. This allows manufacturers to sell you the latest upgrade. The average lifespan of consumer electronics from the early days of mass production was an estimated 40 years; it is anywhere between 1.5 and 13 years today. For example, desktop computers are used between three and five years before being replaced, as are laptops. Smartphones are used for an average of three years, while smart TVs last between four and 10 years.

Many........

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