Read Column, Rinse, Repeat

摘要

At some point during your youth, you probably encountered a curmudgeonly adult who told you something like this: "The big corporations know how to make a virtually inexhaustible battery, you know. And light bulbs that take years to burn out too. But they don't make them, because then we wouldn't need to keep buying new ones, and they'd be out of business." Such was most people's introduction to the concept of planned obsolescence. The inexhaustible battery may be a myth, but planned obsolescence, which dates back at least to the 1920s, is real enough. In fact, it's become increasingly sophisticated, as many manufacturers, no longer content to spur repeat sales simply by making consumer goods that break down or wear out, now offer products that tell the consumer when they're breaking down or wearing out.