Back in the “good old days,” manufacturing was a complex chore. The televisions in the early days held wires, fuses and boards of welded circuitry, encased in wood and molded metal, and they weighed as much as an adult. The repairman (I’m not being sexist here; women didn’t commonly take on such jobs, though many did do such tasks while men were serving in WWII) would dismantle the device in your home, lay out the parts on a tarp, diagnose the problem and replace the worn out pieces.
Today, televisions are flat, light and contain microchips which can’t be replaced, so we throw them away.
Why does modern technology have such a wasteful price tag?
This came to mind because the Titan submersible, which was destined to tour the wreckage of its namesake, the doomed Titanic (which has lain on the ocean floor disintegrating since it sank on its maiden voyage in 1912), seems much more tragic due to its apparent cause of failure. The vessel did not withstand the pressure of the ocean and suffered a “catastrophic” implosion which claimed five lives, including a father and son.
We are supposedly building better things, not cheaper. If a vessel needs metal hulls of a certain weight and thickness, so be it. If making televisions with replaceable parts which will keep many out of landfills, isn’t that a better way to do things? Some of us still have grandparents with console televisions in their homes. Those products lasted decades compared to the year or two of service we manage today.
The volume of junk we are discarding due to item failure, our boredom or a lack of recycling alternatives is catching up to us. We need to call attention to the elephant in the room, which is the amount of stuff being dumped into our oceans to “make it go away.” In those old days, things lasted for a long time, and waste was considerably less. The American average tonnage of municipal waste in 1960 was 88 million tons, compared to 292 million in 2018 (last figures available). Today, Americans discard an average of five pounds of trash per day.
When the ultimate cost of bad production or cutting corners is human lives, we need to re-think how modernization may be failing us.
My heart breaks for the families of those lost in this latest tragedy that didn’t need to happen.
Susan's Scribblings the Blog 
Like They Used To
Posted at 4:39 pm by kayewer, on June 24, 2023
Back in the “good old days,” manufacturing was a complex chore. The televisions in the early days held wires, fuses and boards of welded circuitry, encased in wood and molded metal, and they weighed as much as an adult. The repairman (I’m not being sexist here; women didn’t commonly take on such jobs, though many did do such tasks while men were serving in WWII) would dismantle the device in your home, lay out the parts on a tarp, diagnose the problem and replace the worn out pieces.
Today, televisions are flat, light and contain microchips which can’t be replaced, so we throw them away.
Why does modern technology have such a wasteful price tag?
This came to mind because the Titan submersible, which was destined to tour the wreckage of its namesake, the doomed Titanic (which has lain on the ocean floor disintegrating since it sank on its maiden voyage in 1912), seems much more tragic due to its apparent cause of failure. The vessel did not withstand the pressure of the ocean and suffered a “catastrophic” implosion which claimed five lives, including a father and son.
We are supposedly building better things, not cheaper. If a vessel needs metal hulls of a certain weight and thickness, so be it. If making televisions with replaceable parts which will keep many out of landfills, isn’t that a better way to do things? Some of us still have grandparents with console televisions in their homes. Those products lasted decades compared to the year or two of service we manage today.
The volume of junk we are discarding due to item failure, our boredom or a lack of recycling alternatives is catching up to us. We need to call attention to the elephant in the room, which is the amount of stuff being dumped into our oceans to “make it go away.” In those old days, things lasted for a long time, and waste was considerably less. The American average tonnage of municipal waste in 1960 was 88 million tons, compared to 292 million in 2018 (last figures available). Today, Americans discard an average of five pounds of trash per day.
When the ultimate cost of bad production or cutting corners is human lives, we need to re-think how modernization may be failing us.
My heart breaks for the families of those lost in this latest tragedy that didn’t need to happen.
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Author: kayewer