{"id":1909,"date":"2023-05-10T08:40:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T12:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/?post_type=article&p=1909"},"modified":"2023-06-05T13:48:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T17:48:07","slug":"why-do-we-replace-our-laptops-every-few-years","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/articles\/why-do-we-replace-our-laptops-every-few-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do we replace our laptops every few years?"},"featured_media":47596,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[141],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[2],"topic_tax":[127,116],"class_list":["post-1909","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[127,186,185,116],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":141,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":116}},"featured_image":47596,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"Many companies and schools buy new laptops every four years or so. But why does this have to be the \u201cstandard\u201d life cycle? Couldn\u2019t it be much longer?","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":[1885],"hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":16,"people":"6899"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Many companies and schools buy new laptops <\/span>every four years or so<\/span><\/a>. But why does this have to be the \u201cstandard\u201d life cycle? Couldn\u2019t it be much longer?<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe don\u2019t replace everything this quickly. My first car had been on the road for 15 years when I trusted it with my life. Some of the tech devices I used in classrooms lasted decades. I still have my old TI-84 calculator. It\u2019s been dropped, scraped, lost, found, stepped-on and forgotten\u2014and it\u2019s still working great!<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nThough laptops and other personal computers present unique challenges for longevity, it\u2019s worth prolonging their use, considering the environmental and financial damage resulting from our rate of replacement.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_25842\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1600\"]\"\" Americans dispose of 416,000 cell phones per day, and only 15 to 20 percent of electronic waste is recycled.[\/caption]\r\n

The modern tech churn hurts our environment<\/h3>\r\nChurning through electronics contributes to climate change. It takes a huge amount of resources to manufacture a new laptop or phone. In fact, researchers estimate that the <\/span>information technology sector<\/span><\/a> is responsible for about as much climate pollution as the <\/span>airline industry<\/span><\/a>. Tech also requires metals such as <\/span>cobalt, platinum, gold and rare earth elements<\/span>.<\/span><\/a> Mining for these minerals is destructive. In addition, these metals are not infinite, and at some point we\u2019ll run out.<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n ","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_quote","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_quote":{"quote":"We don\u2019t have the technology to take complex products such as smartphones and magically melt them back into their component parts. We might never.","image":44682,"attribution":{"name":"","role":""}}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Once we\u2019re done using our work or school laptop, which was manufactured and shipped across the world, it gets relegated to the basement, closet or trash. Tossed devices become e-waste \u2014 our <\/span>fastest growing waste stream<\/span><\/a>. The World Economic Forum announced that in 2021, the global annual e-waste <\/span>outweighed the Great Wall of China<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_47597\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]\"\" The World Economic Forum announced that in 2021, the global annual e-waste outweighed the Great Wall of China.[\/caption]\r\n

We can\u2019t recycle our way out<\/h3>\r\nE-waste is especially difficult to recycle. Laptops often contain hazardous materials such as the heavy metals lead and mercury. <\/span>According to the UN<\/span><\/a>, \u201crecycling activities are not keeping pace with the global growth of e-waste.\u201d Its report also found that just 9.4% of e-waste is recycled in the Americas. It\u2019s not just a capacity problem. We don\u2019t have the technology to take complex products such as smartphones and magically melt them back into their component parts. We might never.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe can\u2019t recycle our way out of the problems caused by increasing tech manufacturing. While it\u2019s better to recycle than not (we have reduced carbon emissions and resource usage by reclaiming materials), our priority should be making fewer devices and maximizing what we\u2019ve already produced.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_47592\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]\"\" Historians note that as Americans accumulated more disposable income, companies adopted planned obsolescence to stimulate sales.[\/caption]\r\n

Laptops could last much longer<\/h3>\r\nIn the past, each new generation of phones or laptops offered critical upgrades. More memory, a faster processor, and the newest operating system. This quick innovation rate is often true of new technologies. However as the rate of improvement slows, consumers upgrade less frequently. For example, in 1934 the average length of car ownership had <\/span>increased to five years<\/span><\/a>. Historians note that as Americans accumulated more disposable income, companies adopted <\/span>planned obsolescence<\/span><\/a> to stimulate sales. As a result of annual style changes, by the 1950s the average length of ownership had dropped down to just two years.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThroughout much of the short history of computers, the machines\u2019 power has doubled about every two years, while costing less, as explained by \u201c<\/span>Moore\u2019s Law<\/span><\/a>.\u201d This model held true for many decades. However, researchers say in 2020, the speed of these technological advances started to <\/span>plateau<\/span><\/a>. In other words, on average, a 2019-model laptop is much like a 2023 model, whereas that 2019 model was generally much more advanced than a 2015 model.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_47593\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]\"\" Most of our devices, especially Chromebooks, now function as old-school terminals that access powerful cloud computing services over the internet.[\/caption]\r\n

We\u2019re living in the cloud<\/b><\/h3>\r\nWith the trend toward people using web applications such as Google Docs, cloud storage and streaming, most of my work happens in a web browser. Chromebooks have gone even further with devices that nearly <\/span>only<\/span><\/i> run a web browser.<\/span>\r\n\r\nMost of our devices, especially Chromebooks, now function as old-school terminals that access powerful cloud computing services over the internet. When the first computers were the size of rooms, the terminal you typed on to send commands to the mainframe didn\u2019t need to be constantly replaced. Today, most device users don\u2019t require much processing or storage capacity\u2014they\u2019re not doing much <\/span>computing<\/span><\/i> per se. If Amazon or Netflix keep upgrading their cloud services, I can keep the same laptop and phone.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_47594\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]\"\"<\/a> The Framework Laptop is repairable, upgradable and modular.[\/caption]\r\n

Laptops should be upgradable like cars<\/h3>\r\nWith upgrades to the cloud, it ought to be easy to slow the replacement cycle for our laptops. Companies should allow commonly used parts to be shared across a range of models. Parts that wear down over time or frequently break\u2014such as the battery, screen and keyboard\u2014could be taken from older or broken devices and used to fix newer ones. When we do need more memory, or a faster processor, or a bigger screen, we ought to be able to buy just that component to upgrade our system.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen I need winter tires, new headlights, or a tow hitch, I don\u2019t toss my car and buy a new one. Why should I accept a wasteful tech status quo that pressures me to buy a new laptop every four years to get an upgrade? I want my tech designed to last.<\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_featured_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_featured_action":{"action":[1885],"action_query_string":""}}]},"yoast_head":"\nWhy do we replace our laptops every few years?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many companies and schools buy new laptops every four years or so. But why does this have to be the \u201cstandard\u201d life cycle? 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