Basic knowledge: UNDERSTANDING
6. Technological products. Sustainable technology
Very often, technology's answer to the problems of today's society does not require us to create a brand new product; instead, we can simply adapt an existing product to the new conditions. One example is the car, which has seen dramatic development over the last one hundred years. Among other things, engines have become more efficient and innovative devices have been added to improve safety (e.g. airbags, seat belts, LED headlights, fatigue sensors and cameras).
An innovation is a modification made to a product to adapt it to new conditions brought about by changes in requirements or progress.
Innovations have helped to improve many everyday products. However, this has also caused their rapid obsolescence.
When we use the word obsolescence we mean that some products have fallen into disuse because they do not have the functionality of the new technologies appearing on the market, due to a lack of spare parts for their repair, as a result of changing trends, etc.
For example, very few people use mobiles with a keypad nowadays; most people use a touchscreen phone or a smartphone.
Make sure you understand these words before moving on!
Innovation: upgrading of a product to improve it in some way or add new functionalities.
Obsolescence: when a product falls into disuse because it does not have the functionality of the new technologies emerging on the market.
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What is planned obsolescence?
Most of the time, the reasons for product obsolescence are financial. To increase their profits, retailers expressly engineer their products so that they have to be renewed after a time, which allows them to obtain greater profits. This is called planned obsolescence: the products stop working after a time because they have been designed to stop working properly after that period. This type of behaviour is considered unethical and it can have the opposite effect to what the retailers expected: consumers may decide to purchase the products of a different brand instead.
The constant renewal of products to include innovations or because of obsolescence has a huge impact on society.
- Positive influence of technological development in society
Technological products have contributed to the development of society in many ways: we can now be independent of weather conditions; we are able to settle in one place; all members of society can communicate with each other, and our life expectancy has increased considerably.
- Negative influence of technological development in society
Technological development has increased the use of fossil fuels, which has caused the deterioration of our environment, traffic jams because of the overuse of vehicles, health problems related to our environment, etc. Product obsolescence generates a build-up of waste. This waste is not generally biodegradable and it is highly polluting.
Despite this pressure to renew our products frequently, we must be critical and act responsibly. We all play a part in keeping our living conditions sustainable.