The other day, I couldn’t find my computer charger. My computer is my lifeline to my work, my friends,
my music.
So I looked everywhere, even in that drawer where this lives. I know you have one too, a tangle of old
chargers, the sad remains of electronics past.
How did I end up with so many of these things? It’s not like I’m
always after the latest gadget. My old devices broke or became
so obsolete I couldn’t use them anymore. And not one of these
old chargers fits my computer. Augh. This isn’t just bad luck. It’s
bad design.1
I call it “designed for the dump.”
“Designed for the dump” sounds crazy, right? But when you’re
trying to sell lots of stuff, it makes perfect sense. It’s a key strategy
of the companies that make our electronics.2 In fact it’s a key part of our whole unsustainable materials
economy.
Designed for the dump means making stuff to be thrown away quickly. Today’s electronics are hard to
upgrade, easy to break, and impractical to repair. My DVD player broke and I took it to a shop to get
fixed. The repair guy wanted $50 just to look at it! A new one at Target costs $39.3