Last week, I talked about the theory of planned obsolescence and how this increasing the amount of waste
that humans produce. Well, there’s another piece to this puzzle called perceived obsolescence, which is a part
of planned obsolescence which refers to how an object is no longer identified
by the public as “cool” or “fashionable”.
To expand off the last post
a little bit, various technologies can a prime example of the fads that quickly
pass through our culture. The most prominent brand who this phenomenon is most
often attributed to is Apple, as this
article in the New York Times appropriately
titled “Cracking the Apple Trap” demonstrates. As soon as a new iPhone model out, our old one immediately
seems less shiny and exciting, even if it only six months old itself. When
things go out of fashion or something else becomes more popular, we recognize
the first object as obsolete.
Another example of perceived obsolescence is the world of
fashion. It seems like every month, not to mention every season, fashion shows
and magazines are touting new clothes and trends that you just have to try if you have any sense of
style at all. But four months
later, all of those clothes are suddenly out of fashion again. But why? They
still function as clothing, and they don’t look or work any differently than
they did before, but they are suddenly “perceived as obsolete”, just as the
technology was.
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| Above and on right: examples of magazines explaining new trends and showing consumers where to buy them |
Our culture has placed such high importance on trendiness, and “keeping up with
the Joneses”. In an article
discussing the financial and consumption habits of Millennials, the author
writes that “two in three [of Millennials] want to keep pace with peers on
where they live and what they wear, and the types of places they eat and the
gadgets they carry”. It matters to our society what we are seen wearing or
holding, and if it’s suddenly obsolete, we want whatever it is that the rest of
our friends and peers have.
In a study published in the Journal of Consumer Culture, the results discuss “psychological
[perceived] obsolescence” and how it “prompts end consumers to constantly
re-evaluate product qualities, devaluing existing products, and [contributes to the] disposal of
functioning products”. The constant renewal of our “stuff” is killing our
environment because the consumer culture we have created in our society.
"The Story of Stuff Project" is an organization who are working towards making our planet healthier through the consumption habits of society. This is the video they made that sparked their whole project, which has great insights into the issues of obsolescence:
What does all of this have to do with the environment? The media of magazines and new technologies have led us to
experience desensitization in regards to the way that we view the planet. We
become immersed in all the stuff that’s constantly available to us, and forget
that all the resources to make these products have to come from somewhere, as
well as be disposed of somewhere. The conceived concept of obsolescence desensitizes
the public to the fact that its consumption is not sustainable and it is
actually hurting the planet.
Sources:
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Good job bringing this issue to our attention! The idea of mass consumption of a bunch of stuff we are told we "need" in order to be a certain way is not only an unhealthy lifestyle, but is also bad for the environment in so many ways, as stated by the video "the story of stuff". My environmental science professor actually showed that to us in class, and I remember thinking how well it was made, and I especially love the animation! On a side note, I remember when I bought my first ipod and my cellphone, and the cellphone actually still works! It's actually the newer gadgets that I've bought such as my iPhone 4S and my macbook pro retina display that have been failing me (as in not working) and the phone and older version of computers that still work, which is really interesting.
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