Submitted 3 weeks ago by bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works to showerthoughts@lemmy.world
If a thing works, it works. Then corporations realized that doesn’t work to keep growing like a cancer. Queue: Make the old thing bad (by enshittification) or pour billions into ads saying no, this NEW thing is what you need now!
The seriously damaging part of capitalism is capitalism.
I think it’s a normal part of human nature that you experience all the time without corpo meddling. Have they exploited that urge for new? sure, just like they exploit every human emotion.
reminds me of how general motors used to paint each new model it's own color so that you would know if someone had the new one or not.
even that small amount of social pressure for the new thing really did wonders for their bottom line.
Totally… Apple would never make new colors on their products for that reason, noooooo. A tale as old as marketing.
It entirely depends. Old is good when it comes to some things, and new is good for others.
You probably shouldn’t use your 20 year old hot water bottle, for example, even if it’s worked for 20 years. Your old boiler might be working, but it’s on borrowed time with each passing year. You don’t need a new phone, but it might do things better than your old one that you specifically like or need. That old chainsaw you’ve been holding onto might well just give up the ghost dramatically some time.
Something working doesn’t mean it’s working optimally. It’s ok to want a better thing, or a safer thing, or a thing more suited to you, or even a new thing for the sake of it.
Yea, having a 60 year old fridge might be cool, but their electricity demand isn’t.
A 15 year old computer probably doesn’t work for most things, even IF planned obsolence wasn’t a think. Heck, in my line of work, a 5 year old computer would be too slow.
Its fitting you did the chainsaw reference, I actually had a neighbor that thought his chainsaw was broken so he threw it in the trash. I took it out, PUT GAS IN IT and I am still using it to this day. Put a new chain on for 20 dollars.
I think the whole “I NEED NEW” breeds stupidity.
I’m gonna use my glasses as an example here, I’m very nearsighted…
I got my last official prescription back in 2020, complete with the standard ‘scratch protective’ coating and all. Before I even made it out to the car, the right lens already had 4 light scratches on it, and now after years of wear they’re all scratched and pitted up.
A little over a year ago, me and some other regular visitors to our city park briefly exchanged glasses, just curious how strong each other’s prescriptions were. When I put on the oldest fella’s glasses, it was like they were literally made for me! I asked him if he had a spare pair of old glasses he might be willing to donate.
A couple months later, once he remembered, he brought me an old pair of bifocals made in 1988, perfect match to my prescription! Hell, if anything they’re even better than my official prescription!
Anyways, they were made in 1988… And not a single scratch on them to this day! They sure don’t make things meant to last like they used to…
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Were they actual glass? I think they switched to plastic lenses because they are cheaper, lighter, won’t shatter (but will scratch).
Actually they are plastic, not the newer thinner polycarbonate plastic though, they’re stupid coke bottle thick, but they work great for my vision.
That was actually one of the first questions that came up about them, whether they were glass or plastic, so I took a razor blade to the very edge and shaved off a very small inconspicuous sliver of the edge to test. Sure enough, plastic. Must be that good shit though 👍
My car is from 2005 and is definitely better than new cars. No touch screens, low maintenance, no subscriptions.
I agree with all of this. Except I think you meant cue rather than queue?
In Australia, at least in terms of housing - those in the know, tend to want to avoid new builds due to the sheer number of cut corners, sub-par materials and lax regulations.
Homes made in the post-asbestos, pre-2000s are highly coveted as a result.
I myself don’t like new houses either but thats just because I usually dont like the designs ha.
Funny, where I live, all the boomers say everything new is shit and everything that’s old has to be good and better
While not always true, a lot of older things were/are better. Everything built today is made for planned obsolescence. Meanwhile there are still motors and ac units from 1950 working perfectly. Now yes those were the well built ones. But still. Nothing built today will last that long, guaranteed, because a circuit board with an unreplaceable chip will no longer be attainable.
My fridge is from 1990. Works perfectly. How many 6 year old fridges have I seen go to shit? A lot. Even worse now that they try to shove tech where it shouldn’t be. I guess thats the main factor. Leave tech out of my life where its not needed.
Out with the old in with the new, and other consumerist slogans
Actually, in Japan there isn’t a housing crisis because of this very truism. Real estate isn’t seen as an investment.
I think it has just as much to do with the decline in population, impacting overall demand, as it does with not seeing housing as an investment- but rather a depreciating asset.
Things should be judged by themselves, not by some indirect classification.
Yep. It’s part of the culture of consumption.
I immediately don’t take a recommendation for entertainment seriously if it’s something that was recently released.
Modern content no longer even tries to teach a lesson... They just laid it up with propaganda and creators bias.
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TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Both appeal to tradition and appeal to novelty are harmful. An idea should be evaluated on its own merits.