Mike CaneAmazon kills old Kindles. @pluralistic
Email from X poster.
rk: it’s hyphen-minus actually“In the future, you will own nothing, and you will be happy.”
Nicole Parsonshttps://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67911517
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate
Kill switches come in many forms.
Apple is paid by petrostate despots to increase planned obsolescence & surveillance-enabled newer devices. It's a monumental waste.
https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-crown-prince-visits-apple-google-2018-4
https://durabilitymatters.com/planned-obsolescence/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_timer
1/
Ponygirl2/
We tend to ignore how much wasteful energy usage is tied up in an economy that relies on planned obsolescence.
Imagine a world where Apple made devices that lasted 10 years instead of 18 months.
How much fossil fuel would NOT be purchased?
Keeping consumers tied to a product longevity cycle that is deliberately shortened is lining the pockets of oil oligarchs & petrostate despots.
The same folks frying the planet & funding fascist movements.
3/
The #enshittification economy depends on oil that prods consumers to buy new, very often.
What happens when the most corrupt industry on the planet decides an AI-surveillance platform & kill switches embedded in every device is what they need to keep their lock on power?
This artificially amplified demand throws away perfectly adequate rare earth minerals & justifies wars to loot other nations' natural resources.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/world/europe/trump-lauder-ukraine-lithium.html
https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-to-attract-179-million-u-s-investment-in-key-lithium-deposit/
Neil Moffatt@Npars01 Remains staggering that people keep buying new iPhone iterations when each one adds precious little new. Yet costs a fortune.
The forces of fascism are experts at marketing.
FOMO is FUD for corporate fascists keen on psychological manipulation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty,_and_doubt
Malign influence campaigns, disinformation, and propaganda borrow a lot from marketing & public relations experts.
The same tactics that convince MAGA to vote for a dictatorship are also used to make consumers buy crap they don't need & can't afford
@Npars01 FOMO is one of the ways in which I find myself surrounded by head- and smart-phone zombies wherever I go. Quite how smart people I know also get trapped is baffling.
Seems few step back enough to observe habits ...
But what an evil power-axis in the world, garnering more wealth than they could ever have time to appreciate.