Obsolete Technology

Taylor Keselica

Obsolete Technology

Last week in our lab classes, we discussed the topic of obsolete technology.  Until talking about it in class, I never really thought about or realized how many different forms of technology I have used in my lifetime.  Another thing I did not think about was how many items I use in my everyday life are forms of technology.  For example, when we talked about microwaves and dishwashers and other household items as types of devices that no one really looks at as technology, but instead just sees them as devices we use to make a job easier, like dish washing.  

Though there are many forms of technology that are now considered obsolete in our society, these obsolete forms of technology formed a building block for all forms of technology that we use today.  Like we discussed in lecture, the first computer was very large, taking up the size of a whole room.  Scientists continued to try and find better ways to generate computer technology, leading us to where we are today with computers within our cell phones.  However, as well as the obvious positives that came from the original and basic forms of technology, obsolete technology has a dark side.  This “dark side” can be known in more correct terms as E-waste, as we also discussed in lab class last week.

E-waste is accurately defined on the California government website called CalRecycle as “consumer and business electronic equipment that is near or at the end of its useful life.”  Though this definition paints a good picture of E-waste, there is no clear and exact definition.  To put it blankly, E-waste is the left over pieces of technology that we as people no longer desire or need that do not get properly disposed of.  Because our technological demands keep changing, technology keeps changing and newer technology is being produced at a higher rate, making E-waste a serious problem for some environments.  In lab, we were told to look up E-waste on Google and this was a picture that I found that really stuck with me:

This picture stuck with me because you can see all of the waste that consumes most of the land seen in the photo.    This waste is taking over the environments in other countries that people live in.  Learning about obsolete technology, specifically in terms of E-waste has changed my perspective of technological advances at least a little bit.  I had thought for a while that our society and the world in general, has advanced and continues to advance in the technological world far too quickly.  Although this is my belief, I still keep up with the trends of technology and I like having the latest forms of technology.  I guess you could say that I have double standards and mixed views when it comes to technology.  However, I mostly believe that, like I said above, our world is evolving in the technological sense too fast for most of us to even realize it.

Frequent technological advances are a huge negative in my eyes for multiple reasons.  One reason is that we have relied far too much on technology that it, in my opinion, is taking away from our real life experiences because people are paying too much attention to their phones, tablets, computers, etc. instead of paying attention what is happening around them.  Another main reason why I feel as though we are moving through technological advances too quickly is because of the fact that we have all of this old, obsolete technology that we are creating so much waste across the world that no one has any idea what to do with.  Therefore, I believe that the issue of obsolete technology is a real issue that should be paid more attention to.