The average American now holds onto their smartphone for 29 months, according to a recent survey by Reviews.org, and that cycle is getting longer. The average was around 22 months in 2016.

While squeezing as much life out of your device as possible may save money in the short run, especially amid widespread fears about the strength of the consumer and job market, it might cost the economy in the long run, especially when device hoarding occurs at the level of corporations.

Research released by the Federal Reserve last month concludes that each additional year companies delay upgrading equipment results in a productivity decline of about one-third of a percent, with investment patterns accounting for approximately 55% of productivity gaps between advanced economies. The good news: businesses in the U.S. are generally quicker to reinvest in replacing aging equipment. The Federal Reserve report shows that if European productivity had matched U.S. investment patterns starting in 2000, the productivity gap between the U.S and European economic heavyweights would have been reduced by 29 percent for the U.K., 35 percent for France, and 101% for Germany.

  • YoiksAndAway@piefed.zip
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    5 days ago

    I’m still rockin’ my Galaxy S10 and the desktop I built in 2016. Both meet my needs just fine right now.

    • OR3X@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      I’d still be using my OG Google Pixel if it hadn’t suffered a sudden and unexpected death. I was using it like normal one day and it just turned off.

      • YoiksAndAway@piefed.zip
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        5 days ago

        I honestly think we’re close to the point where personal electronics are as powerful as they need to be and manufacturers are scrambling for more reasons for planned obsolescence. For example, the Windows 11 requirements are about secure boot, not processing power or memory requirements.