This is why I detest modern technology....

[gtaus]

Does my phone need upgrades so often that before I learn how to use it I have to figure it out again?

I successfully not had a smartphone for many years. But Dear Wife would buy a new phone every year, then give it to me to set it up for her! What, it's not my stupid phone! She has never bothered to even try to learn how to set up a new phone. At least I am still useful for something around the house.

Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go burn my soapbox, and if you don't know what a soapbox is, you're probably one of those young people writing software for my next stupid smartphone!

Love it.

 

[gtaus]

What I find additionally infuriating about planned obsolescence is how much it contributes to e-waste, and the huge toll on the environment and the lives of the people manufacturing these products. The free marketplace has selected for companies who make products that are not built to last, because this continually brings in customers. Because the companies are allowed to design their products however they want, they don't design for the future or the long-term consequences of their decisions in mind, outside of what makes them the most money. Even though we know their practices of making products as disposable as possible are going to have lasting effects on future generations, as well as how their unethical labor practices exacerbate global inequality.

Rant on! Dear Wife buys a new smartphone from QVC every year because their package deals are cheaper than just buying another 1 year service plan for her "old" phone. We have about six 1-year-used phones in a box on the shelf. What a waste. I was still using an old phone as an mp3 player and camera, but that is about all I have been able to figure out what to do with them. And I don't need multiple phones, either, so now that I too have a smartphone, I don't even use the old phone as an mp3 player anymore. All those great phones with no economical life left in them. It costs more to put them back in service than it would be to buy a new phone.

Oh yeah, we don't talk too much, so we just get the QVC Tracfone specials for about $80 for 1 year service, 1500 mins, 1500 texts, 1.5 GB data. Works for us.

 

[gtaus]

has 'right to repair' legislation appeared stateside yet?

Yes, I see on YouTube that there are places that are fighting for "right to repair" on things like electronics and Tesla electric cars. I think they have been successful in many cases. However, in the case of smartphones, it is cheaper for us to buy a new smartphone with 1 year service (Tracfone) than it would be to repair a broken phone. Almost all our electronics are use until broke, then replace. Nobody in our town repairs electronics anymore. There is just no profit to be made fixing an old device when a new electronic device is better and costs less than a service repair. Maybe if you had a really expensive device it might pay to have it fixed. But nobody around here to fix it anyway.

Back in the day, I used to get electronics fixed if they broke. But somewhere in the 1980's, when I had a VHS recorder go bad, I found out that nobody was willing to fix them anymore. It just cost too much in labor rates to fix an old deck when you can replace it brand new, with warranty, for the same price as the repair. Same thing with TVs. Our TV repair shop went out of business in the early 1980's, and nobody set up shop to replace them.

Thanks to YouTube, I have been able to learn how to fix some home appliances on my own - if I can order the part(s) from Amazon. Otherwise, it's taken to the transfer station and dumped into the waste cycle.

 

[Perris]

you're right; deskilling is a real problem. Repair cafes now pop up here for volunteers to pass on some skills to those who want to DIY repair their stuff. The right to repair legislation just tries to ensure that manufacturers make spare parts and make the insides accessible, but can't control the costs of course.

 

[Angel07]

My iPad is about 3 years old and is slowly going. I've figured out a way to get it to work for about 2 hours then I have to do it again. I'm only ever on my iPad for school and music. My phone for music and talking to my family and friends.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I really loved my previous phone, a Samsung 7 (I think) mini. It fit my arthritic hand very well and did everything I wanted it to. Sadly, after 3 or maybe 4 years it just slowed way down and then just gave up the ghost. I was told it could be neither repaired nor upgraded. The closest thing available that is not too big for my hand is this horrible Google phone. If I had known that it communicates with the cloud ... Ugh! And also, Grr! It does things I don't want it to do and has features I can't turn off. It tries to anticipate what it thinks I want to say. I find it obnoxious and annoying, as if a six-year old is constantly trying to finish my sentences for me. I just want to slap the snot out of it.

 

[Kiki]

I really loved my previous phone, a Samsung 7 (I think) mini. It fit my arthritic hand very well and did everything I wanted it to. Sadly, after 3 or maybe 4 years it just slowed way down and then just gave up the ghost. I was told it could be neither repaired nor upgraded. The closest thing available that is not too big for my hand is this horrible Google phone. If I had known that it communicates with the cloud ... Ugh! And also, Grr! It does things I don't want it to do and has features I can't turn off. It tries to anticipate what it thinks I want to say. I find it obnoxious and annoying, as if a six-year old is constantly trying to finish my sentences for me. I just want to slap the snot out of it.

I can't remember what model of the pixel you have but there are ways to turn it off.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I can't remember what model of the pixel you have but there are ways to turn it off.
View attachment 2898217View attachment 2898218

Pixel 5 ...? Please?
I want the Spell checker ON but the Predictive text OFF. I don't remember where I found them once and whatever I did seems to have turned both off. They may function as a unit.

Also, while you're at it ... Somehow I managed to change something so that when someone send me a picture in my text messages, I get a blue blob that says Download instead of just the picture showing up. I have to click it to open the picture. I wander around in these menus and don't know what I'm doing, or what I did, then can't find my way back to fix it. Please have mercy on me, lol!

 

[gtaus]

My iPad is about 3 years old and is slowly going. I've figured out a way to get it to work for about 2 hours then I have to do it again. I'm only ever on my iPad for school and music. My phone for music and talking to my family and friends.

I imagine an iPad is much more expensive than my Android smartphone that I paid $80 for and it came with 1 year of service. Just a basic QVC "Special Value." At the end of the year, it's just a matter of buying another "this years model" Android cell phone with another 1 year of service.

 

[gtaus]

I just want to slap the snot out of it.

Even better than a non violent rant. Slap away! You paid for it.