- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
The average American now holds onto their smartphone for 29 months, according to a recent survey by Reviews.org, and that cycle is getting longer. The average was around 22 months in 2016.
While squeezing as much life out of your device as possible may save money in the short run, especially amid widespread fears about the strength of the consumer and job market, it might cost the economy in the long run, especially when device hoarding occurs at the level of corporations.
Research released by the Federal Reserve last month concludes that each additional year companies delay upgrading equipment results in a productivity decline of about one-third of a percent, with investment patterns accounting for approximately 55% of productivity gaps between advanced economies. The good news: businesses in the U.S. are generally quicker to reinvest in replacing aging equipment. The Federal Reserve report shows that if European productivity had matched U.S. investment patterns starting in 2000, the productivity gap between the U.S and European economic heavyweights would have been reduced by 29 percent for the U.K., 35 percent for France, and 101% for Germany.
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29 months is long? What good for “the economy”? New phone every year?
I kept my last phone (pixel 3A) for 6 years. Only got rid of it when it finally stopped charging.
“A population with skyrocketing costs of living and stagnant wages cutting unnecessary spending, and that’s a problem”
Now I want to hold my devices longer so the economy destroys even faster
Maybe “the economy” should give some more money back to working class people, ya dingdongs
This is the new avocado toast
Good. If the economy is designed to only survive with constant spending then fuck it
Fuck the economy. It can eat my ass.
Also with moore’s law’s death, why the fuck would anybody believe this productivity bullshit? Any device from 5 years ago can do what a device today can.
One more thing, wtf is this entitlement from electronics importers. Apple, google, samsung, etc can all fuck off until they move manufacturing back to north america.
What do they think we all want to be influencers in the newest greatest thing. Way overrated. Fuck the economy. Id rather stop contributing to the piles of ewaste.
PEOPLE AREN’T GIVING US MORE MONEY!
Great! Now we’re getting blamed for wrecking the economy because we aren’t spending enough of our minimum wages on $2000 phones often enough.
Couldn’t have anything to do with redistributing over a trillion dollars a year to Sociopathic Oligarchs, and not taxing them. How about forcing them to give each one of us a new phone every year. Or how about this: Just give us health care, like every other country in the world.
Not buying enough new phones? Go fuck yourself.
Let’s all feed the “economy beast” with fake, valueless, money tokens and buy hardware, while we all starve. Earn points!
Omg the poor economy, how could those selfish Americans do that
It doesn’t cost the economy at all; great efficiency frees up resources for other purposes. The only downside is to the companies that make the devices and rely on planned obsolescence for profitability. The stock market and “the economy” are NOT synonyms.
29 months
squeezing as much life out of your device as possible
FUUUUUCK YOUUUUUUU
Last phone I had for 7 years, through a screen replacement, 2 battery replacements, and a switch to LineageOS.
And I would not even call that “squeezing as much life out of your device as possible”.
Last upgrade was forced because of a supposed upgrade to 5g. My network sent me the world’s shittiest smartphone to replace my pixel which was 4g only.
2 phones ago I kept my phone for 6 years and it became sooo slow I had to upgrade it. Had it wasn’t for that, I’d have kept the phone longer. Last was 7 and I upgraded because someone gave me a newer phone for free. Perhaps it’s just a preference for me to keep devices until they die.
I feel you.
It made me honestly mad when I switched to Lineage and not only was everything faster, my battery life tripled.
Many people use cheap phones and used phones as well sometimes, and buying another one is nearly more interesting than repairing them
The phone in question was midrange. Sure, not super cheap and I can see how a cheaper one would make it less attractive to repair, but still. (Plus I paid like, 50€ for the screen repair, I think?), and batteries were 15€ from eBay plus 20 minutes of my time.
But this is kinda beside the point: as long as it runs your apps, why upgrade.
Some people want faster phones for gaming for example. Maybe more storage. Maybe better photos. Maybe better connectivity. Maybe a bigger screen.
I’m on your team honestly. If you’re happy with your current phone, don’t buy a new one. Help the planet and save some money :)
This being next to this article https://www.pcworld.com/article/2984629/ram-is-so-expensive-that-stores-are-selling-it-at-market-prices.html
Is pure real life comedy gold.
My Pixel 6a has about 18 months of support left. I doubt I will be buying any other American based phone then so I’m seriously considering not having a smart phone. I think I have an old flip phone in the closet. It may come back into play.
That means no more Lemmy on work time :(
Use a tablet or laptop?
