Within Brophy and de Peuter's article “Labours of Mobility”, they discuss the process of how cell phones are created and built. They go through each phase in which they describe how the mobile phones are constructed. As Brophy and de Peuter state that their work takes a materialistic approach for their study. There are 6 moments in the process: extraction, assembly, design, mobile work, support, and disassembly. The process of building a cell phone is actually very tedious and involves several steps.
In our world today, technology becomes old “quick” which results in waste. Brophy and de Peuter discuss the concept of “e-waste”. At large, most of the products we use and “throw out” or get rid of, end up back in other countries such as China. de Peuter and Brophy suggest that China is the major manufacturing country in the world and things end up back where they started and complete a full circle. China’s black market “e-waste” is worth $3.75 billion US dollars, importing around 8 million tons of discarded electronics. Ultimately, this type of waste is not healthy for humans or the environment as it is very toxic. The individuals who are impacted by this type of waste feel the most of the toxic side effects. Upon doing some research, I discovered that individuals actually handle the “recycled products” and break them down.
Below I attached a video demonstrating the process of “E- recycling”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ikFMTuS9c
Recently, I had to purchase a new Apple Macbook charger as mine broke. I handed in my old laptop charger to Apple’s “recycling” program. Apple informed me that I could “recycle” any old iPhones or Apple products that I had at home. Apple also told me that the phones would be wiped off their previous content. I considered recycling my old iPhones but upon reading this article, I was informed of where these products actually end up. I am not sure where or who's hands my information or old iPhone would end up. This led me to think about how easy and simple it is to just give personal information to social media platforms where our information is never really “erased” or deleted. There is not any way to ever assure that our information is really safe in the hands of others.
Have you ever thought about those responsible for “erasing” the information on the products we are “recycling” and where it ends up? Do you think there is a better use for old technology rather than just “throwing it out” or recycling? (For example, companies like Apple promoting fixing products for a lower price, expanding memory capacity etc)
Great explanation of the reading Sydney. In regards to your first question, I personally had never taken the time to think about those who were responsible for erasing the information on products I have recycled and where these gadgets end up. However, when I began conducting external research for my presentation on the reading by Enda Brophy and Greg de Peuter, I found that the capacity of labour including the discarding of e-waste can actually enable the resistance of exploitation. This is evident as labour activists are now demanding that manufacturers such as Apple take producer responsibility for every stage in a products life cycle. I found that knowing this information made me rethink the fact that I have had a total of five iPhones and have never thought about where they end up when I recycle them. I think that this is something that companies like Apple can improve upon by advertising these recycling programs more heavily in the Apple Store and on television to ensure users are actually aware that these options are available to them.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your second question, I think that there is in fact a better use for old technology rather than throwing it out. Personally, I have had to recycle two of my iPhones simply because one aspect of the phone stopped working while every other part worked fine. This is where I believe a better use for these gadgets exists as these phones can often be easily fixed and then re-sold as used products for lower prices. These lower price points could also allow individuals who could previously not afford these products to have access to them.
Here is an article I found that breakdowns Apple’s Renew program:
http://lifehacker.com/how-much-money-you-ll-make-when-you-recycle-through-app-1766610009
This article outlines what you can expect to get back from recycling the various versions of the iPhone including gift cards that increase in amount based on the product that was recycled. Do you as well at our other classmates think you would be more inclined to recycle your old products if you knew more about the benefits of doing so?
I have never really given much thought to my information on old phones, but focused more on making sure it was successfully transferred to my new phone. I think that part of the reason we often dismiss the e-waste we create is because of the novelty of buying new things. Technology companies have definitely picked up on this, and phones and laptops are now built to last only a couple of years. Apple offering to fix old phones and upgrade them for a lesser cost may be a start to taking responsibility for e-waste, but I think it is up to us as consumers to actually dispose of old technology properly and avoid discarding usable tech whenever a new version is released.
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