No - you don’t need to upgrade!
It wasn’t that long ago when you bought a TV, and it lasted ten plus years. You bought a vacuum cleaner and it lasted fifteen years. A phone lasted almost a lifetime. Not today. These products are just built differently. They are not designed to last beyond three to five years. They are designed to sell. Not necessarily to last.
We know that after three years our mobile phone battery doesn’t hold its charge. Upgrading the battery is not an option for some of the leading smart phone brands out there. Most of us won’t even wait three years. We’ll upgrade yearly. We want the latest model with the new 4K screen, 5G communication, nicer profile and better sound. We like to keep up with our friends. It’s not ‘cool’ to have an old phone. It's embarrassing - right?
Cordless battery powered vacuum cleaners are all the rage these days. So convenient and so expensive - ouch! Of course, these vacuum cleaners are high-tech. High-tech processors controlling high-tech, high-speed motors, powered by high-tech lithium-ion battery packs. Same problem. They don’t last! I’ve replaced my battery pack twice in the last few years. Firstly, it developed a fault. The second time, the battery wouldn’t hold charge. The last time I called customer service with a battery issue, I asked if it was expected that the battery would fail after less than two years. I was told - it’s just like your mobile phone - we don’t expect them to last longer than that! What? I don’t want my vacuum cleaner to perform like a smart phone. I want it to perform like a vacuum cleaner! I’ve been on the phone to customer services at least four times sorting issues with my vacuum cleaner! I want to buy a vacuum cleaner, service it after ten years (maybe), take it out to do its job, put it out of sight and never have to ring customer service. I want it to last at least a decade (or two). I want hassle free reliable vacuuming. Is that too much to ask? After those frustrating experiences, I went out and bought a plug in Miele vacuum cleaner. Less than half the price of my trendy looking cordless variant. My carpets didn’t know what hit it - if only they could talk. The suction and performance of this thing was a sight to behold. For the last five years I’d been coaxing dust and dirt into my high-tech cordless vacuum cleaner convincing myself it worked to justify the crazy price I paid for it. Lesson learned.
But this problem doesn’t only exist for smart phones and vacuum cleaners. It's a problem with smart watches, smart alarms, TVs, laptops, computers and even now electric bikes and electric vehicles. How long do these products last? How long is it before we feel we need to get the latest version, the upgrade? We convince ourselves we need it. We start to crave it. We are suckers for marketing. Marketing is powerful. The new one is always better. Clever advertising will have us believe that it will change our life. We’ll be happier. We’ll make more friends. We’ll be more successful. We might wish for all these things, but I don’t think 'the upgrade' is what gets us there.
Our planet has limited resources. We are all becoming more environmentally aware. Precious earth metals like Cobalt and Lithium are core materials used in producing our battery powered devices and electric vehicles. The demand for these metals is increasing as our consumption of electric powered goods increases. While there is now greater focus on recycling old batteries, most lithium-ion batteries are still not recycled. It’s an expensive process. I want to buy a smart phone that lasts ten years. Make it modular where I can recycle the battery. I can upgrade the screen. I can even upgrade the processor. Give me that phone any day. These resources we are using are finite. They’ve taken millions of years to form, and they deserve to be respected. If extracted from the earth, processed and used by us, they need to be recycled. We, the consumers, need to demand that products are made not just to sell, but to last. We need to demand that batteries are all recycled and reused. Don’t put up with your vacuum cleaner lasting three years. Demand that old battery packs are recycled. In my opinion a vacuum cleaner should be fully serviceable and last a lifetime. I’m still waiting for a phone company to produce a modular recyclable phone. I’ll be first in line.