You shall reuse electronic devices now!
One of the things that angers me most is consumerism. The person has a perfectly functional device that meets all their needs, but insists on wanting the new model. They go ahead, purchase it, and discard the old one, even though it's 100% functional!
You can't brag as an environmental defender in social media and want to change your smartphone every year. You can't complain about rulers that encourages illegal deforestation when you rush to buy a new computer that can run Windows 11 because "it's more beautiful". Throwing away your fucking Xiaomi in favor of the new model will change nothing in your life!
Now I can't buy what I want? My problem is with people that buy new devices without necessity, and not with people that, for example, buy a powerful computer because started to work with high resolution, process power demanding video editing. From the moment your "freedom" to spend your money invades our personal space, this becomes a problem.
And how the fuck this invades "personal space"? Excellent question! For example, when you buy a new smartphone unnecessarily, you demonstrate interest to its manufacturer. With that, more and more units will be produced. More raw materials will be exploited. More water will be consumed. The same goes for electricity. More CO2 will be released into the atmosphere. Climate changes intensify, and extreme natural phenomena events become increasingly frequent. At the end, this fucks all our lifes.
So, companies should stop manufacturing products? Nope! There's a real demand for new products, but it's absurdly lower than what we have today. The entire butterfly effect I described earlier would be infinitely reduced if the consumerist practices didn't exist. However, we live in a capitalist society where the profit is above everything and more and more companies are creating new ways to increase their profit destroying the planet, their own character and the well-being of their consumers.
In the past, products were made to last. There's a incandescent bulb in the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in United States lit since 1901. Well, if over 100 years ago we were able to do this, nowadays we can certainly manufacture "immortal" products! Yeah... nope. Meanwhile, regular bulbs burn after about 6 months.
Apple slows down their older smartphones intentionally over time. Microsoft increase Windows 10 requirements with the obvious intention of improve computer sales after the pandemic. HP, the most disgusting and repulsive of the printer manufacturers, rape their products with DRM from the printer itself to the fucking ink cartridges.
And how do we deal with this? Being persistent. Prefer products and brands that do not adopt (or adopt less than the others) repulsive practices like DRM lock-in. Instead of buying a new device, replace the software you use with another - most times there are alternatives better than what you use. If there's a real necessity of replacing your old device, reuse it to another function or donate it for people who need - but never trash it.
Example: a mobile device could be used to a lot of things: a customizable alarm clock; a digital photo frame; a retro videogame emulator; a multimedia center with movies, music and TV; an IP security camera; a doorbell monitor; a second monitor for your computer; an e-reader; a "Raspberry Pi" with Linux or BSD... the possibilities are endless.
Me doing this won't change nothing! While we continue with this idiotic and backward mindset towards every single issue that is raised, truly nothing will change. We live at least I live, IDK if that's also your reality in a wretched country because of this: no one takes action at the time of voting because "others don't either", repeating this vicious cycle that sinks us deeper and deeper. If you want to improve the environment you live in, start by doing your homework and not complaining about politicians.
The small pro-freedom hardware and software movement we made until now yielded great fruits: regulatory government institutions sanctioned interventionist laws like the Digital Markets Act, CCPA, LGPD and GDPR, and some antitrust lawsuits are occurring. All EU smartphones shall now have user-replaceable batteries, USB-C connectors and application sideloading permissions, Windows will allow the user to uninstall componentes like Microsoft Edge, and big messaging services like WhatsApp must support app interoperability.
A small movement made that. Imagine if everyone did their part?
All these scenarios (electronic devices, software, and even the government) will only improve when we directly affect the comfort of those who keep the situation in the deplorable state it's in. The critical sense of the population is destroyed to prevent resistance, allowing us to be exploited. It's up to you to decide if you're going to do your part to initiate a change.