After a very recent new PC purchase, it came to mind that we have possibly been trained to become a throw away society.
looking back to my younger years, I can remember as a young girl collecting soda pop bottles to take to the local store for my -.03-.05 and exchanged it for a free soda pop and possibly some .02 candy too. Immediate reward for doing the right thing. Where has that gone? On to bigger and better things?
Now we collect aluminun cans and you must collect a lot , and you can't take them to your local store, you go to the recycling place. most generaly people don't do this, because of the idea of keeping all those bags of smelly cans around or the amount you would have to collect by yourself would take forever to reap any wards worth getting. I guess you could go around and collect off the streets and out of trash cans around town if you realy wanted to. Like that ice skater who did it for her skating lessons. ( Tonya something or another one who will always be remember by the busting off the knee of Nancy Karegin(sp?))
My father does collect cans, his last trip reap him over $100 but he had 25, 30 gal bags of smashed down cans. He is a collector of sorts, he does not beleive throwing anything out. It has become some what of a conversational topic in our family about his ability NOT to be able to throw anything away (he might need it one day)
Cell phones, really has it come down to the fact that by naming a cell phone by a food item we are enticed to by it? The new chocolate phone is now available and in several flavors. . Every 2 years we can receive a new improved better phone for free. (that is already outdated and going to be obsulete in about 2 minutes because some other company is getting ready to launch their new product that we can not live with out. )
Back in May 07 I did upgrade to the Treo 650 one of the few phones that support our ekey service in my area. This was a 2 fold benifts for me now I have one less item to carry with me when showing a home! Great no more jumbling things around, and it just so happened to be an on sale item with a huge rebate that month, so instead of having to pay into the 399 price range I got it for around 150. I was pleased with myself needless to say.
Well there was a reason for this, it was now a product that is no longer available happened in about 2months. (they put them on sale to get rid of them. )
Now I am really going to get going because , this is what really just burns. I had no choice but to purchase a new PC and of course now the only OS available on them is Windows Vista. Guess what vista has loads of glitches one being the compatibility issues it has with older version software programs. (meaning anything that is not as , old as Vista ,or made for vista) they actual have released and force fed a product that if your really lucky you might be able to find something on line after hours and hours of research to make your camera, palm and older software products work but not guaranteed to work properly or not to cause you problem with in your new system.
So now I have all this software I used on a daily basis that I can't use. I could try if I want to spend all those hours hoping that there is something out, and it will work right. of course vista was thoughtful enough to say it will let me know when and update for it is available. BIG DEAL I can't waite until it comes available, I need it now, so I will have to purchase new software.
Is it even legal to sell your older software to get some of the cost back as a consumer? I not sure but I don't think it is. Like to know for sure on that one.
OK now my new treo will only work if I blue tooth wireless internet on my palm for updates to supra only this will not resolve the issue of hot sync info back to my computer unless I go have bluetooth installed on it and still not totally sure that will resolve the issue, with information transfer. That totals 2 to new products added or services that will need to be paid for.
I called the geek squad thinking , I am not a real wiz just maybe I am missing something here, or doing something incorrectly with this program . The geek squad can't do anything for me other than try to do the same thing I have been doing to make it work. Spent hours on line chat with palm and they could not make it work . However this summer sometime, a driver release will be available, when, no one knows, just soon. I don't think holding my breath here is a good idea.
So we as the consumer become frustrated and toss out the old and buy the new, because sometimes is not only easier but required. How can we stand for this??? We need to band together and say enough !!!
Another example is TVs. What is going on and how in the world have we been duked into this revolution of technology that is out dating our TVS. Soon on older TVS we won't be able to get and receive signals on local channels, unless we upgrade to the new an improved products available. Some people still can't afford basic cable, let alone be lavish and have HDTV.
Now where are these Tvs going to go, in the trash, why because again we will have no choice but to Throw it away. We have become trained to adapt to bigger and better. Most of us don't have time to realy look or complain because we are so busy just trying to make a living to keep up with the growing cost of living our daily lives . I know I am guilty of being unaware of things until it effects ME in someway. That's when most do or say something and make things happen. Maybe some don't say anything because it wouldn't it make a difference, or would it????
I am not against having new technologies available I am against being force feed ! I still have friends that don't even have cable, not so much because of the cost factor but what they believe is healty Tv watching for their family. Local channels only!! Why because they still have that choice, but soon, to still have a choice to watch those local channels they will have to purchase another technology product or subscribe to cable . What a racket they got going on. Upgrade and throw away. Why because it just simply doesn't work, not because it BROKEN but because it is simply out dated.
How is that our TVs, VHS, dvds, Cds, radios , phones, computers and all the other, soon to be throws aways are, growing by the day and our technologies are outdating our products so quickly, and we are still paying $3.00 for a gallon of gas? Where is all this technology for the real need? Yes you can get a HYBRID but you still need gas & electric . Do you believe that will become any more reasonable long term, and the utility companies won't raise the rates. What does it cost in electric to run those babes anyway, I have never heard have you? Some states are starting to charge a per mile fee to those who own those type of cars for tax purposes to maintain the streets and hwys.
Just maybe we should slow down and smell the roses, before our need to have bigger and better gets to out of control. My part is the start of this blogg, I have had enough, it is time to push back for the consumer .
Pasted from <https://www.reliberation.com/blogs/lisabachek/archive/2007/07/23/have-we-been-trained-to-become-a-throw-away-society.aspx>