Mobile phones and the environment. How can we contribute to this problem? What is planned obsolescence? How are we manipulated by our favorite brands?
According to the eMarketer Mobile Media is today greater than Desktop and other Media. Why is that surprising when our phone is actually a pocket computer. Unfortunately the most common used technology has the shortest lifetime. One of the reasons is that brands are encouraging us to always strive to have the latest model.
How many spare phones do you have in your house? Did you know that, like plastic bags, mobiles and other electronic devices can take up to 1000 years to break down?
Searching the Internet there is a common term called planned obsolescence. It claims that mobile phones are programmed by producers to have 2-3 years lifetime so you always have to renew your device. There are thousands of people on the Internet who had complaints about their phone breaking right after the 18 months contract.
Throwing away your old phones is extremely dangerous for the environment because phones are mainly made of toxic materials such as arsenic, lithium, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc. These poisonous substances may leach from decomposing waste in landfills, reach the groundwater and contaminate the soil. Metals that are found in the soil can enter the food chain and in sufficient presence may cause health problems.
But throwing your old phone is not the only danger for the environment. The production of new mobile phones also leads to climate change by using up energy and virgin materials, which release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
How can we contribute to minimize this problem?
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