I don’t think this is in anyway a new phenomenon, though. Abandoning recently made tech for shiny new things is part of planned obsolescence and has really been around since the early 20th century, when we really started to become a consumer society. It’s what happens when you have an economy mostly based on consumerism. It’s why we were told to shop post-9/11, because that’s what our economy is based on - our ability to consume. And it’s driven by corporations, not just for their own profitability, but in order to keep the population able to buy their stuff. A smart corporation knows that they need a middle class with disposable income to be able to buy their stuff. This is why the prices for things like flat screen TVs, nice refrigerators, and certain kinds of poorly made, but fashionable clothes have kind of bottomed out, while the prices for actually necessities like food have been on the rise (by food, I mean good, healthy foods). I think I saw some charts on this phenomenon not too long ago, but I can’t remember where I saw them now… If I find them, I’ll update with a link to them.
But I think in the past decade, we’ve reached new heights on this capitalist logic. We’ll see where it takes us, this kind of disposable culture.
