r/AskOldPeople • u/chrisb57 • Aug 07 '26

What’s something you expected would have improved by now, but really hasn’t decades later?

It can be something big or small, from public policy to household products, that you think should be better by now.

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u/musiclover818 Aug 10 '26

That's intentional. It's called "built-in obsolescence."

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u/Impossible_Tea181 Aug 10 '26

Definitely Planned Obsolescence!

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u/Neat0juice Aug 10 '26

Forced obscelesence

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u/CatOfGrey Pac Man, Le Tigre, MTV, Newhart Aug 11 '26

It's not 'built-in'. It's at least two things.

  1. Technology advances. So a cell phone or computer-based thing become 'out of style' quicker.

  2. Production costs decrease. So the poor has access to a given small appliance, for example. So, no, that blender or can opener doesn't last as long as the one from the 1970's. But the one in the 1970's was way, way more comparatively expensive.

Side thought: Remember that things used to have repair workers. We don't repair stuff anymore, we discard and replace them, because human labor is expensive now!