This is why we can't have nice things

8.5 million people watch you, and you planted a seed today in their mind about right to repair. Thank you.

All of this neglects one of the worst parts of planned obsolescence: the overwhelming waste. We don’t have infinite resources, and even when we recycle the old models and items, we still produce emissions and non-recyclable components. Planned obsolescence only further exaggerates resource depletion and pollution

It amazes me how many people boxed in by the thought that this short lasting disposable goods creates more jobs. There are much higher ways societies can work

My physics teacher said, "Planned obsolescence isn't a problem, we have recycling now." I hope college is less idiotic than high school.

This really gives some credit to the saying "they don't make em like they used to"

Even LED bulbs have planned obsolescence. To achieve a certain luminosity, nearly all bulbs use a single diode wired with a higher voltage than what it is rated for. This significantly reduces the lifespan and the energy efficiency of the bulb because the diode gives off lots of heat. Manufacturers could easily use several diodes under a lower voltage to achieve the same luminosity while consuming a fraction of the energy and allowing the bulb to last several times longer. Dubai is the only place in the world that regulates the efficiency of LED bulbs, and hence is the only country in the world that sells energy efficient LED bulbs.

The thing I hate most about planned obsolescence is that it assumes we have endless resources. It's terrible for our planet.

When I was a kid and went for shopping with my parents, I often heard the shopkeeper/seller convince us to buy a product by telling us in Hindi language "dada le pota barte" (written in Hindi as "दादा ले पोता बरते"). It translates to "grandfather buys , grandson uses" and means that product is of such a good quality that it would last three human generations: grandfather, father, and grandson. High quality used to be a competitive advantage to drive sales back then. Now high quality cannibalizes the sales of a product. Capitalism, consumerism, and greed rock*! :) *sarcasm

I personally make it a point try to buy the most sturdy, lasting things. My last doc martens boots I had (Thailand made, so not as good as the older English stuff) lasted me 5 years as my everyday boots. I found that to be super impressive. Then when it was time to replace them I couldn't find anything as promising so I actually bought barely used ones of the same model, as they don't make that one any more. When I told my cousin about that her response was "why would you want to have the same shoes for that long? Don't you want something new? Something fresh?" Clearly, we have different ways of thinking....

I went full LED early about 10 years ago, and as you said, didn't expect to ever have to change them. But I have had to change some bulbs out twice already. And some of these were name brands (Philips, CREE), and other cheap brands performed about equally well. I suspect there's some planned obsolescence in LED bulbs, too. Regardless, their low power consumption and cooler temps make them great, but I wish they lasted longer.

I've had to change plenty of LED bulbs. Planned obsolescence is as strong as ever.

This is why I sew my own clothes in Classic styles. Skirts, shorts and shirts can be "updated" with the addition of a couple of inexpensive accessories. Even a nice scarf can be made from a bit of silk and some dye & a few beads. It's not hard to keep a nice wardrobe like this. And it looks better, especially if you don't have an "off-the-rack" body. It can be expensive to buy fabric, so it's a good idea to start small. Make 1 item per season, and build on a basic 3 skirt, 3 pants, 6 shirt, 2 jacket wardrobe base. Even if you never get past the "easy" stage, it's a fun hobby. Here's to Planned Forever clothes!

On the other hand, JPvid is filled with lots of unplanned obsolescence

Wow. I had this in my playlist forever. The IPhone 14 came out yesterday. The video is soooo well Made, informative and entertaining. I am a lawyer specialising in competition, yet i have never heard about the lightbulb-cartell before. What an inspiring story on competition law.

A friend of my parents once invented a device that screws into the lightbulb socket before the bulb that acted like a surge protector for incandescent bulbs. This dramatically increased the lifespan of the bulbs in his house to the point where he never had to replace the bulbs. GE learned about it when he tried to patent it and got the device patented before he could. This device has since been buried

Fun fact: The Centennial Bulb isn't even the only Shelby Electric Co lightbulb still in existence. It's just the oldest (and therefore most famous) one. There are actually 26 lightbulbs that were made by Shelby Electric prior to 1914 that still function even to this day.

Seen thousands of videos here but none with this impact. I've created subtitles first time in my life only to show this movie to family. Love you! I'm not going into details, but you changed my life with this video.

This video is THE best video on JPvid I have ever seen. It was SO well made and so well done up to the very last moment which gave me goosebumps. Keep up the great work!

Great video! As a carbon filament lightbulb enthusiast I'm glad you didn't hold out the centennial bulb as an example of long life in and of itself, as the limited power supply is certainly the main factor. The only flaw in this video (in my opinion) is the led bulb being held out as finally being everlasting. If anything, planned obsolescence is more at work in led bulbs than ever. Sure, the leds themselves last, but the components in the base of the bulb which supply the leds with dc power are absolutely not made to last (edit: Actually I should qualify that statement, because I don't know about all manufacturers. There could be some good ones.). You could make your own led bulb that would last far longer than those sold off the shelf.

The issue of planned obsolescence is compound. You addressed the obvious technological side and some of the cultural one, but didn't touch the social implications of it today. I think a lot of people wouldn't be so driven to update their electronics and cars and clothes if it weren't for the culture of consumerism and judgment of their social peer group if they fail to do so. Sure, you can be reductive and try to say that people only want the new shiny thing because "it's a new color" and it appeals to their surface vanity, but I think it's a lot more than that. It's the fact that there is a stigma around being the one in the office with the oldest phone, or going out for drinks with your friends in the least trendy clothing. Even if YOU like the older thing, or at the very least don't have a personal desire to update it in a vacuum, you'll find that the outside pressure of wanting to 'keep up' can change that fairly quickly. I think that's also starting to change a little. An interest in vintage clothing and vintage machines, a renewed excitement about "homesteading" and "cottagecore" ideals (even surface level as they can be), along with a growing frustration in modern technology not delivering on promises made is converging into a population that's rejecting the idea that there's something wrong with having an older phone, dressing in an older style, or choosing to do things a simpler way. Eventually, that will not be a preference but rather a necessity. Between climate change, resource scarcity, stagnating incomes, and disasters like Covid 19, we're going to see less and less "keeping up with the Jones'" type of behavior simply because it can't be accomplished anymore. The rising cost of food and other basic goods necessarily means that spending on non-basic goods will have to go down, if wages don't rise. We're already seeing a huge squeeze on things like canning equipment, goods for growing your own food, sewing equipment and supplies, etc. Things that normal people can do to "go back to the old ways". At least in some respects.

Our english teacher mentioned this back in third grade. One of the most interesting things I've heard, I remember the parts about lightbulbs and stockings were prime examples Austin made a similar video but it's only about printer ink. Not exactly the same, but you get it. Purposely making things more inconvenient and making rights to repair so expensive. Man

I always had this conspiracy in my head for a long time, at least relating to phones. Thinking they made the software efficiency degrade on purpose. Only just learned the term for it today

It's interesting to think about; If companies were truely racing to make the best and most durable products, would a business model of: producing products for a certain feild, mastering the crafts in that feild, eventually stop profiting from that feild and then move on to doing business on another feild, be a feasible strategy? It could make for some very interesting products because companies would have unique ideas from concepts they learned from different feilds, and use that to make their product stand out. It could be like a gold mine, everyone likes finding it, but it's natrual that it ends. Another benefit to this stategy is the ability to carry good reputation from one feild to another. Either way that method seems much better for the planet. What do you think?

Bloody hell! I can remember when the "everlasting lightbulb" was an urban myth, and you were a tinfoil hat enthusiast if you thought it was true. A while ago i heard that a certain computer processor manufacturer were working on their Mk VII model before they'd even released the Mk V (I.e. the successor's successor) - I gave it no credence then, but I'm starting to wonder now!

A GM engineer once told me, "it's easy to make a car last forever, getting one to break down in 7 years is the trick"

I believe that making something as best as we can so that way it lasts forever and we don't have to continuously replace it would be the more ideal approach because then you wouldn't be wasting all the material and all the hard work and time and effort put into obtaining these materials from wherever they're source by just throwing them away or discarding them to have them wind up in oceans or landfills or the ditch on the side of the road. make things to last so we don't have to waste and want, cuz eventually we won't have it in order to make the things that we waste and want ,but the reason we don't is more than likely in my opinion anyway the reason why we "don't" for a lot of things, because money beats all

my grandmother's old fridge lasted for like 30+ years and it was still working when we changed it (some functions weren't working but it was mostly in freezer) and when we bought new fridge, it started to malfunction in like a year lmao

This video is a fascinating exposé on a widely suspected but until now difficult to prove phenomenon -- planned obsolescence. A very sneaky tactic And a very well produced documentary. Thank you.

Don't you love how capitalism means "we need planned obsolescence so we don't lose our jobs" and not "long lasting products mean we don't have to work as much"? Something went wrong there.

Planned obsolescence is way more spread than people think. It is in every day products and tools. Examples: power tools - various bearings and shafts being sub-standard, or made of poor plastics, while it lowers the cost, it makes them very susceptible to breaking in a very specific way, especially if overloaded. This sometimes is actually a GOOD thing, as cheap part breaks first protecting rest of a device, and if replacements can be done easily is actually pro-consumer. But often you can't. non-replacable batteries one time use products: disposable cameras, some ink cartridges various household items, like kettles, vacuum cleaners, fridges, washing machines, sawing machines, toys, headphones, even cars. they have specific parts (often switch, leaver, gears, screws) engineered to fail first. often just adding minuscule extra amount of material (so it would not change the cost or environment impact), would make the device last 10 times longer. power supplies in many appliances, including TVs, radios, computers, projectors, etc - they often use poor quality electrolitic capacitors, or place them close to hot components with poor cooling, making them gradually degrade and eventually fail. it is extremely common. multiplayer games - servers hosted by makers of the game, shut down after few years, with no way to host own server to continue playing. phones - edge to edge screens, class covers, all to make it more likely to break creating thinner and lighter products, i.e. laptop keyboards, screen hinges, poorly soldered ports, etc. all on purpose to break easier. there are companies making good and lasting products, but they often are bit more bulky or unfashionable, they are expensive, nobody buys them, so they are even more expensive. so they go out of business. the most depressing part is that designing a part that breaks, actually takes way more engineering effort than making a part that last essentially forever. it takes a lot of knowledge, engineering, science and testing to make a part that break in a specific way, but to make parts last very long is rather easy, by creating big safety factors. so parts that look beefy and strong, are not "over engineered", they are actually under engineered.

Great video. Thank you for bringing attention to this.

Planned obsolesence is a concept I learned from my dad 45 years ago. Diametrically opposite to anything made in China. (unplanned obsolesence) But I digress. I believe improving the product so consumers would want to opt up is the hallmark of good company.

Absolutely love your videos. Thank you for the education and for doing such a great job. Bravo.

This is why anti trust laws are so important and shouldn’t be neglected

One thing I do like about obsolescence is that I can buy a "dated" model for much cheaper that is only fractionally worse than the most up to date. I get a new cell phone every 3-4 years, new car after 10 years, etc.

I enjoyed every second. Please keep it coming.Thank you for another great video brother

As an electrical engineer, I can assure you... We are literally educated in school about how to design for the desired failure timeframe. It seems criminal

Very nice video indeed. Industry shifted from "constant sales" to "constant service" for quite some time now - in every aspect, not just physical objects. It must be ensured that a new product needs service on a regular base.

I think about this stuff a lot. Not just about light bulbs. This conspiracy goes real deep.

Great job! I have to admit iPhones are lighter and larger now. I just pulled my old one of a drawer today by coincidence, and it "felt" old, while it's not really that old. It was just surpassed. It looks small and heavy, compared to my new one (only iPhone 7). Even without "style" judgements, it has been improved upon. What hasn't been improved is the flip phone. I went back to a flip phone for a while. I didn't think the early iPhone was worth the cost. The flip phone was perfect for what it was supposed to do. The older iPhone was slow and the only time I used any of the cellular data options was when I had to wait somewhere, like the tire store, with nothing to do. It was just a phone and a paperweight otherwise. My current iPhone/ camera/ radio/ podcaster/ bank teller is much better.

I’ve heard it said that an engineer needs to choose between serviceability and reliability. Something can be made more serviceable but will likely be less reliable, increasing the probability of needing service. I’m sure it isn’t that straightforward, but would be an interesting exploration.

Hey there, we recently bought a house that had this leaf blower in the attic... It has a few issues that should resolve, after minor repairs as you demonstrated in this video. THANK YOU very much for the detailed video, instructions, and pro tips! It is really helpful for a guy who knows enough to be "dangerous" LOL much obliged, God bless you and yours! Happy Thanksgiving! I am very grateful for this video! Godspeed+++

Slightly different than obsolescence, but when I was 13 or so, my neighbor (who lived about a mile away since I grew up on a farm) hired me to help him cut and load some old, dead oak trees to sell the wood. For those who don't know, wood is usually sold by the cord when dealing with large sales, which is a measure of volume (around 1,000 gallons, I think). So I started loading this wood into a trailer, and on the second day I was helping him, he stopped me and told me that I was loading it too well. I was being too efficient, packing the wood into the trailer too tightly and thus reducing his profit from the sale of the wood, since there was more wood per cord. He made me stop and instead load it loosely and less efficiently. A few days after that, I came up with a way to use his tractor to load the wood faster than either of us could by hand, and he fired me once he realized how well it worked. Really taught me a lot about the world.

I have an incandescent bulb I just replaced after almost 30 years of regular use at full intensity. It was powered thru a bedside "sun-rizr" controller that ramped up the power smoothly, instead of a typical switch that shocks the cold filament with full current. Made a night vs. day difference in bulb lifespan as well as my sleep habits!

That's the same thing with the things we're buying today, one of these are our phones and other devices. Before,during my dad's and mom's time the time spent ( my mom,especially, takes a long time to be done) shopping was well worth it. Those were the times when manufacturers were competing against each other to produce beautiful, durable and really quality merchandise. Well,those light bulbs cartel came earlier but their business practices weren't that well known that time,unlike today obsolescency practices seem to be normal! I think it's a criminal act that should be addressed by the government and other consumer groups. It's a betrayal of people's trust. Yeah,that's why we can't have nice things. It's like freedom,liberty and such,to have nice things one has to fight for it.

Your presentation and timing is fantastic. Always look forward your useful videos.

I put led lights in my house, and they go out all the time. I have been in this house for 2 years and replaced all the lights when I moved in. I have since replaced a lot of those lights especially in rooms like the kitchen and living where they get used the most. I guess they figured obsolescence out for LEDs as well. I think it is not the bulbs themselves but whatever condenser or whatever it uses in the bulb. Maybe one day I will rip one apart and see what's in it. Also I noticed phones have a useful lifespan of 2 years. I bought an S10 and broke it so bought another S10 instead of getting the newer S21 and after a year it is still working fine even though the phone model is 3 to 4 years old. My theory was that each upgrade made the phones worse after 2 years but that would only make sense if the phone Model was 2 years old and not the individual phone. Like if they were nerfing the phone firmware or OS with each additional update. But obviously that isn't it if my phone is still working well and is a 4 year old model even though it's a 1 year old phone.

Essentially everlasting LED bulbs, but then planned obsolescence came into play once again. Electroboom has a good video on that.

My mum had an oven that lasted 30 years, fully functioning right till the end. Then when she got a replacement, the technician told her that the company who manufactured them went broke because their ovens very rarely broke down. It's sad that we've gone from one extreme of excellent durability and reliability to planned obsolescence.

I started thinking about Alec Guiness in the Man In The White Suit when he theme of the video became apparent and then you mentioned it! It's worth pointing out that it's a comedy, although more satirical than laugh out loud. When Guiness's character spouts the (incompehensible to most people) science about isomers and carbon chains to an uncomprehending listener, it's a joke about his naivety and lack of worldliness, and sheds light on his inablity to deal with the backlash that follows his invention. The film is very watchable even now, and almost unbearably tragic especially given the relevance that you highlight in this video.

I find it interesting people are reverting back to old fashioned bulbs now as a sort of nostalgia. Great video. Thanks

Too bad those LED light bulbs also have planned obsolescence! The first LED bulb I bought was heavy had a heat sink, cost almost $30 and is still going almost 10 years later now. Many others that are recent and lightweight like the one you show at the end didn't make it 1 year!

This is interesting because it seems like the planned obsolescence is applicable in mostly newly created things. Like when lightbulbs were first being used it was a concern that they would go out of business because too good of one was made. The same with cars, now people want to make their car last longer. And iPhones as you said have not changed much and the old ones would work perfectly fine except for the software updates forcing them out. It's been ~140 years since the first lightbulb and now we have an "everlasting one". Maybe in 40 years we will have cars that last quite some time.

Unfortunately, LED light bulbs mentioned at the end of the video are now running into the problem of planned obsolescence as of 2023. I have several home built LED lights from 2005 that have never failed, a few 2008 commercial that also have not failed. But from circa 2015 on most last between 3-5 years now, with only a few that have lasted longer.

As an industrial designer I can honestly say that’s one of the most frustrating aspects of the industry. One always wants to design a product with the best characteristics.

This is one of the reasons why we cannot dismiss conspiracy theories, but we should be skeptical about them.

this is sort of what happened to me with my computer recently, you know the saying was always that the quality would keep improving while the prices simultaneously went down. well ive bought about 4 computers since my first one in 2000 and they have all been about the same price and while they did at first improved a good bit from the last one my most recent one was a massive let down. i got my last one about 8 years ago as a Best Buy, when i went in there were like 4 aisles full of PC's to chose from. i am a home body and dont go shopping unless i need to and i am not a keeping up with the Joneses type so i dont follow things and havent been paying attention to computers, bt when my computer finally stopped turning on after about 8 years i went back to Best Buy to look at computers and where they once had 4 aisles of PC's they now literally had 3 PC's to choose from and they were all a massive downgrade from my old computer but still about the same price. there were a ton of laptops but i could not give a crap about laptops, like i said i am a home body i dont really want or need a computer you can pick up and carry around. so i started looking all over online and i could not find a computer anywhere that wasnt a downgrade from my last now dead one, all i could find were inferior PC;s still in that same price range or a bunch of far more expensive fancy gamers PC's. the computer i had was not some fancy one when i got it it was a lower mid priced pretty standard computer, now my new computer costs just as much and doesnt seem like anything runs any better or faster and it clearly just looks cheaper and most of all i was pissed off because it only has one fourth of the hard drive space so i couldnt even try to transfer all the stuff off of my old computer when i managed to get it to turn on just to transfer my files.

People have always feared and/or rejected anyone who goes too far from the 'average'. Most people want things to stay the same especially when they are doing well for themselves.

Explains, and confirms my thoughts, on the hesitancy and expense for bringing LEDs to the market. And for the cars in different colors. It seems they have gotten away from that form of obsolescence because for a nation that has such a deep history of love for the automobile, they oddly have a dearth of variety now when it comes to car colors. Take a look and count how many cars are white, black, or some version of gray (I include silver as a version of gray). And cars that are some other color are usually such a dull that they might as well be gray. That's one of the reason classic cars are so cool. And why just based on color variety alone I'm a fan of Royal Enfield motorcycles.

I've seen plenty of LED lightbulbs blow out in a year or two of use. I think a lot of manufacturers are using poor quality heat management in the bulb's base to make sure their bulbs don't last.

My aunt moved into her family home in 1919 at age 14 and had a 1913 Edison light bulb on her second story stair well. She lived in the house untill her death in 2002. She replaced that bulb a year before her death and she gave it to me and I have kept it right up to writing this comment and the other day plugged it in to see if it's still works. Bright as ever! Going on 108 years old.

8:40, that is exactly the issue. The class action lawsuits these companies pay are a small, miniscule fraction of the profits they make meaning that nothing really changes.

My parents still have flawless iphone 4. Their lifetime habit of treating their belongings with care has allowed most everything to last a really long time. The only reason I got them a new phone was because they literally stopped providing service to the phone.

I used to take my LED bulb for so much granted untill now. I will respect my bulb because its ancestors have travelled a long way since their invention.

In my experience LED bulbs these days are one of the shortest lived products you can buy. I'm convinced there's a cartel secretly shortening their lifespan as well 😅

Corrections: I've been to Thomas Edison's lab and his light bulbs he made are still working.He also never really slept. He took cat naps on his bench and his garden is worth a look.

When I was a young boy and my Grandfather complained "They keep making this junk cheaper so you have to keep buying it"... he must have said that a hundred times to me over the years... turns out Grandpa knew what the hell he was talking about.

My grandfather called it "built in obsolescence." It is a disgusting result of our money hungry civilization. It will ultimately lead to society's downfall.

In 2013, I bought a telephone in a random store for 29 euros. Said telephone has only stopped working a few months ago. I'm not confident that the replacement I got will get to last half as long, and that's nothing short of tragic.

I have always heard about it, artificial obsolescence.. it makes sense sometimes but not everywhere

Got no evidence of this, but my grandfather was running a factory making a lightbulb that lasted forever. After making a lot of money in a year, he found out that a big company (can’t remember which one) had bought the factory and then closed it down. My shock when this video started haha

This video had me subscribed now. This is now my favorite video from you. Thank you for talking about this subject.

My parents recently got a new microwave and gave me their old one they got for their wedding - I'm 25 and warming up my leftovers in the same microwave my baby food was warmed in... pretty amazing. I would love if everything lasted forever. Planned obsolescence feels like such a waste of resources.

I want to Thank you @Veritasium for keeping the sponsor at the end of your video! I want to see the video first then watch sponsored stuff at the end! Keep doing it this way I will watch the full video for this type of way videos are made.

A fun reliability story we have here! I love this :)

LED lightbulbs are nowhere close to lasting this long. I’ve had to change many of them already, in the little time we’ve been using them.

I swear Amazon practiced planned obsolescence this past prime day 2022. I never heard the phrase until this video. But I thought it too coincidental that the Firestick I had for 4yrs never had any problems until a month before Prime day '22. It started 'glitching', and by the time Prime day came it didn't work at all. In my stubbornness I refused to buy a new one, feeling like I was being taken. Out of spite I bought a Roku instead. I hope they both don't eventually form a 'cartel'. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Anyone who even thinks planned obsolescence is the correct way to get repeat customers is wrong on so many levels. The correct way would be not only by providing parts to end users and repair or maintenance services but branching out to make goods that must be replaced regularly such as food, beauty products, cleaning products and office supplies and reduce positions in manufacturing in favour of other positions in the company when something isn't selling as much as it use to. They could also make the chassis of something modular so panels can be changed when the style changes without wasting everything for a different colour or style. They would also have no choice but to bring back hand making and make things slower instead of pushing out unfinished products in time for jesus simps to celebrate genocide. If planned obsolescence never became a thing, we would have an amazing used market where we would be going to for most of our things and the companies who made the products would be getting our money for goods that have to be replaced often and not seen as evil entities that hate the earth. 15:52 We have not reached the point of an everlasting light bulb, they standardise the life span of those to by over volting the LEDs, you can significantly prolong the lifespan by replacing a resistor with a different value that lowers the voltage while barely effecting brightness.

Imagine the trillions of tons of unnecessary garbage planned obsolescence has caused our planet, the poisoning of our rivers and air and soil... It's so backward and disgusting. 😞

And all Apple and other tech companies would need to do to prolong device lifespans is sprinkle in a bit of software and make their hardware slightly easier to repair. I think Tesla is gonna be the new Apple when it comes to planned obsolescence. They have the worst repair program of any car manufacturer, yet they're the most advanced and valuable one.

Very informative video. However, to your mention of how an LED bulb will outlast the older bulbs, it’s actually not the case in my experience. All my bulbs were replaced with LED bulbs and per every single bulb, they’ve gone bad/died and needed replacements just under 2 years on average, whereas the older bulbs lasted well over 2 years on average.

hey I know no one will see this comment at this point but I just want to say thank you for the education and helping all of us think a little bit differently about mega monopolized corporations! Just thanks!

I can't believe they don't have that light bulb protected by at least a wire cage or something.

Also someone mentioned the base 10 numbering system which reminds me how ages ago I made a base 100 number system the was psychologically relevant. I wasn't going to talk about it till it was finished but it got stolen along with my string cipher. So now unless I want someone else passing my work off as their own I am forced to clarify how the number nouns abstracted away from the previously highly emotionally influential number names and each number started with the "m" sound and ended with one of the 11 distinct consonants with 1 of 9 vowels in the middle. Actually I've made a great deal of things all of which have been thus far stolen. I also mentioned a while ago how I thought electrons were just small clouds of negative energy and photons were just smaller dislodged bits of them. Also how the big bang theory is probably impossible on account of when a singularity would be likely to reach critical mass, the frequency of singularities in the universe and a few other things not coming to mind atm. I also had new time system that was going to be better likely by a lot but it will probably just get extracted from me so there is no point explaining anymore.

Imagine just how advanced we would be if it wasn't for business practices like this

Check the lifespan of LED lights for your house and compare that to the 100k hour life they were originally touted for. I don't know if it's an issue of higher strain on higher lumen LEDs, building cheaply in bulk, or built-in obsolescence, but they aren't the wonder product I originally remember them being referred to.

If Apple made a light bulb... it would not fit into existing sockets, require you to fully rewire your house with apple cables, spy on you in your sleep, and need replacing every few days

Coming to LED lights, in india I have observed every LED bulb is lasting for just 1.25 year of regular use Some last longer , the ones that are used less ... We have a policy to write installation dates on bulbs and have observed this in our factory

This is entirely tangental, but they used to sell these plastic lightbulb shells which clipped on in 2 halves, encasing the bulb completely and changing the light colour. They were super cool, but I haven't seen them anywhere in over 10 years.

Thanks for breaking the planned obsolescence blackout. I hate having to buy and pollute six or seven times more than required, car, washer, toaster, everything! not to mention the waste of my work, and my life!

The worst part of planned obsolescence is that it affects the environment negatively ....waste produced by us would be far less if it wasn't for this stupid money making strategy

Led spot lights lasts alot longer than the powersupply. Half the powersupplies for 30 lights didnt work in an apartment from 2014. Problem was the new drivers didnt make the same light so had to replace them all to get the same light.

I have a coffe machine that has broken down, and in searching for instructions to dismantle it, I have come across a few more of the same model with exactly the same fault. I have partly dismantled it, but it is difficult to get into without breaking it. However, I can see that there is a circuit card in it - but I can only see it from its edge, and I can't get it out. If it turns out that there is a microprocessor chip on it, I will be very suspicious about this being a case of planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence is easy to program onto a processor.

Because of the way us humans are. We have no idea how to keep things clean and make it stay that way. I am listening to one of those 'cozy coffee shop' ambiances right now and the first thing that came to mind on why places that look that well-kept can't stay that way is because of popularity reasons. Nice places would get crowded with people, who may not be as respectful as they should be when disposing of their stuff and handling their stuff. People bring their children and don't watch them as they run everywhere disturbing people. Some people bring their pets in doors. Not everybody who pulled up made sure to take a shower and dust the mud and dirt off their feet from the rain. Heck, forget about jazz music playing in the background, people are yelling, arguing, fighting, or just simply talking. It would look more like a Waffle House than a cozy relaxing place to just chill out.

I enjoyed the video and the point it made about the part planned obsolescence plays in manufacturing. One point should be cleared up. The bulb is operating at 4 watts instead of 60 watts because the filament is thinner due to evaporation. The resistance is higher and the operating current is less. The operating voltage is still 120 volts.

Planned obsolescence was something I figured out when I was a young boy. But I still didn't entirely like. I understood the situation but didn't totally agree with this being apart of almost everything we have. Let the situation and consumer make that market decision. Is this something I want to change every now and then? I always liked the idea of continual innovation -including producing entirely new markets and products. Fix the price based on it's longevity, production, and want?

My most recent experience with planned obsolescence: Most laptops typically can be unscrewed at the bottom and opened up. It is necessary to do this every few months to blow the dust and hair out of your computer fan with some compressed air- especially if you have pets. If you don't ever clean that dust and hair out, the fan slowly gets clogged up, ceases to work properly, and your computer can become dangerously hot. A lot of people are unaware that this maintenance needs to be done at all- which is a win for the company that sold the computer when it overheats and breaks. However, apparently some computer manufacturers don't even want those who know they need to clean their laptops to clean them. A relative of mine recently noticed that her laptop was overheating and that the fan is clogged. So she turned it over to unscrew it and clean it out. There were no screw holes. She called the professionals, and the professionals told her that model of laptop could not be cleaned. It was *glued* together rather than screwed. From now on anytime my family goes laptop shopping, we will be checking the bottom for screws!

This says a lot about the society we live in

Thirty years ago, I was selling bulbs that burned from 5-7 yrs. Farmers especially loved them. It was the postage that they objected to, and I couldn't blame them. It was a ridiculous amount and the company closed after thirty very successful years.

When I think of this stuff I always have to think of my old triangle lineal of my mother. The print on it was encased in the plastic and it was way thinker than the new ones. Nowadays you have to buy a new one every year because the print gets rubbed off.