The days of constantly upgrading your tech are over!

….it´s time to mend and make do again and the big tech companies are listening at last

A new wave of environmental activists and sustainability champions are promoting “circular economy” goals — or consumption based on the reuse of products, bi-products and waste, rather than a never-ending cycle of resource exploitation. 

The phrase “circular economy” is also being used and big companies are beginning to adopt this mantra too. 

A decade ago, it was taken for granted that consumers would always embrace the most up-to-date versions of digital devices. 

They would buy upgraded gadgets when their current ones malfunctioned or wore out. 

This upgrade culture was so ingrained in western consumer society that tech companies tended to design products on the assumption that they would quickly become obsolete. 

They used overt and covert strategies to prompt consumers to keep churning their devices. 

Did you know that in 2020, for instance, Apple agreed to pay $500m to settle claims that it deliberately slowed down some iPhones as they got older. 

No longer. 

A host of initiatives is under way to try to change consumer and corporate behaviour.

University College London’s Big Repair Project is a case in point. 

The group recently met tech “manufacturers, the repair community, industry bodies and other stakeholders” to develop proposals for “right to repair” legislation in the UK. 

Thy Will Be Done think this is great news as we have been practicing and championing this attitude for many years and we look forward to recycling and reusing and repairing electronics rapidly and increasingly becoming the norm.