Attending to What We Own \ stacker news ~meta

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906 sats \ 8 comments \ @ablunderfilledlife 5 Mar meta

Ownership once entailed a sense of intimacy, familiarity, and responsibility towards belongings. People would invest time and effort in comprehending and maintaining their possessions to suit their needs, their individuality. Whether a pocket watch inherited from their POW father or a used car, our things were more than just things; they represented us and they were evidence of our ability.

Unfortunately, with the rise of mass production and planned obsolescence, the essence of ownership has undergone a profound shift. Many of the products we interact with today are disposable. They are built to be garbage not salvaged. Smartphones, furniture, clothing--durability is not the standard. I'm sure that says something about us and our culture.

We have detached ourselves from our stuff. There would be a time when people would read the entire manual, not letting a detail slip by their understanding. Their mind ticked along with how their watch was ticking, and if it broke, they had at least some idea of how to get it ticking again. A throwaway culture makes that watch unworthy of our attention; it's absurdly complex and is damned to the trash for breaking down.

Aside from the pile of fixable things in landfills, my concern is for our attention. That wall that we hit before we give up--I fear we have built it higher and higher. The cost of rapid human innovation has been our ability to focus on and fix our things. Our attention, the way we tend to things, cannot help but be superficial. A deep understanding of most of our things takes great study, specialization, and in many cases expensive and unique equipment.

I believe we are aware of these limits--or rather the heightened cost of investment--and justifiably, we ready ourselves to find a suitable replacement (and sometimes outsource the fixing) of soon-to-be broken stuff. We make ourselves ready by lowering our guard to an unending stream of advertisements and huckster product reviews. That is the passive consumption of information by people who want our money instead of the active, deep engagement of information that allows us to keep our money.

Consider:

What important thing do you possess but utterly do not understand?
When was a time you deeply engaged in learning about something you own, and was experience/outcome worth the time and effort?

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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 5 Mar

Truth. And I say this as someone who owns the watch his dad (not a POW, but fought in Korea) had. Still needs some tuning up, but also works if you give it attention.

Clothing is one of the worst offenders. Read any article about "fast fashion" and the way that making things "more affordable" ends up creating this cycle of just more and more garbage. Unlike the electronics in landfills, most of these aren't fixable (even by mending), because the materials are synthetic and fall apart.

As far as valuing and fixing, when we bought our house last year, our dishwasher died, and instead of calling a plumber, I opened it up, saw the part that had clearly come loose, and spent some time googling the manual and finding the part online (which cost $4). Then spent a little more time figuring out how to eventually remove the rubber nut that was stuck, and eventually had a working dishwasher again. Spent a lot less money and actually appreciate the device.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @freetx 5 Mar

Youtube has revolutionized the home handyman. A decent set of tools and some research will save you lots and lots of money on most common home repair tasks

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ablunderfilledlife OP 5 Mar

A well-made watch is a great heirloom. Hope you keep it ticking by the time you give it to your kids!

Not that I am fashion forward or fashion literate or fashionable, but it seems to me the disposability of the newest clothes also cheapens our look. I can't imagine someone pulling athleisure apparel out of their closet and saying, "My mom war this when she met my dad." Whether I like it or not, what we wear says something about us. I wouldn't mind buying a jacket that will endure, and I wouldn't mind putting a patch on it an elbow or two if it ever tore.

99 sats \ 1 reply \ @StoneCodlHodl 5 Mar

Tyler Durden put it best, "The things you own, end up owning you."

In the 70s, my uncle fresh out of University for Engineering was asked to design a component for a household appliance. He created the design, blueprint, specs, and materials. His boss instantly rejected the design, saying it was "too durable", "We have an entire service department with thousands of employees. If we made all of our parts this durable, we would not make revenue on service, and these people would also be out of a job."

I'd also say; reducing durability and quality just below your competitor allows you to undercut your competitors on price, and win the sale. Consumers today expect very little. When things are purchased on an easy credit/debt transaction, rather than hard-earned money - people are less likely to search reviews and ensure they are buying a quality product. Easy money, weak consumers.

46 sats \ 0 replies \ @ablunderfilledlife OP 5 Mar

People who design and manufacture should aim at creating things that put them out of a job. Excellence should be a moral standard in a purpose-filled career.

Easy money, weak customers.

You said it!

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @0xbitcoiner 5 Mar

I totally agree that things nowadays are made to last a short time, whereas in the past they were built to last a lifetime. Just look at cars as an example.

This is the Mercedes that drove more than 3.4 million kilometers https://mercedesblog.com/this-is-the-mercedes-that-drove-more-than-3-4-million-kilometers/

8 sats \ 0 replies \ @ablunderfilledlife OP 5 Mar

They don't make them like they used to--could be said of both the car and the man who took care of it.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @freetx 5 Mar

Also things used to be made to be repaired. Probably top thing was cars. When I was growing up 90+% of all dads did oil changes, tune ups, etc at home.

Cars of the era were meant to be worked on by average mechanic, you didn't need specialized tools and everything was more or less easily accessible.

Modern cars are no longer designed to be worked on by average joe. Even relatively simple things like "changing the battery" often involve multiple stages of disassembly / reassembly to accomplish. This extends even to things like placement of bolts. It used to be that bolts were placed in an orientation such that you could access them, now its just assumed that the car will be disassembled on a lift using specialized tools.