badmojo wrote:

[ROTT] IanPaulFreeley wrote:

So I guess my main point is that Americans, above all other cultures, would be the quickest to just kick a PC to the curb because it's "old"

And what's your basis for this statement? I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but when you Americans compare your culture to others, as sliderider did earlier, do you realise that there actually are other cultures?? Did you consider Japan, or South Korea?

I don't think he did that intentionally. And fondness for novelty is not just an American thing, Japan I believe is nearly as bad as we are (if not worse) in that respect.
Unfortunately, people in the US are very insulated from other cultures, if merely for the fact that we're physically isolated and our pop culture is the dominant one (for better or worse) on the planet. I say "physically isolated" because to do any extensive world travel, you have to have quite a lot of cash. You might do a foreign exchange program or maybe semester abroad but most people in the US don't have the means to travel outside the US much. Contrast that with England or say any EU country, where you can hop on a train and do a 12 country tour over 2 weeks or a month and you wouldn't think any more of it than someone from the US would think of driving through several states on the way to a vacation destination.

badmojo wrote:

[ROTT] IanPaulFreeley wrote:

So I guess my main point is that Americans, above all other cultures, would be the quickest to just kick a PC to the curb because it's "old"

And what's your basis for this statement? I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but when you Americans compare your culture to others, as sliderider did earlier, do you realise that there actually are other cultures?? Did you consider Japan, or South Korea?

What he says is true. Japan is also a "throw away" culture, probably even worse than USA. I remember reading a blog years ago by an American living in Japan and he says the amount of tech gear that the Japanese throw away merely because it's no longer the latest and greatest is staggering. He even went as far as to go around on trash day in Tokyo and take photographs of the things they were throwing away. PILES of televisions only a few years old, PC's and laptops, stereos, cell phones, even furniture that looked nearly new. To prove his point, he set out to re-furnish his entire apartment using nothing but his neighbors throw aways with before and after photos. Status is very important and the quality of your gear reflects your status to visitors to your home so everyone tries frantically to keep up with the latest trends even if they can't really afford it.

[ROTT] IanPaulFreeley wrote:

I'll add a more philosophical note here...

I am American, and I can tell you that in the tech community there is an obvious contempt and disgust for anything even slightly "old". I am the only techie I know who thinks that vintage technology is fun. They all give me funny looks when I brag about the 486 I just built... but I also try and explain to these people that old tech stays relevant far, far longer than their stupid tech magazines would want them to believe. There is a TON of industrial machinery, point of sale systems, ATM machines, etc. that still run DOS. These systems do one simple thing very well, and are often still going 25 years later. I don't think there's anything wrong with that - much unlike every techie I know who has been indoctrinated with the UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE philosophy. (I always suspected this idea was put in everyone's head by advertisers to make you want to buy their latest crap.)

So I guess my main point is that Americans, above all other cultures, would be the quickest to just kick a PC to the curb because it's "old". And so I believe that here in the USA we have trashed a disturbing amount of great vintage gear that probably still worked fine when it was tossed into the trash truck. 🙁 My take on EU and most other cultures in the world is that they're far more resourceful and make the most of what they have. By the way, the system requirements for MS Office 2010 say a Pentium 3 w/ 256mb ram - another example of how "old" stuff can still be very usable!

I totally agree...especially with the part about peoples lack of understanding of how long tech can stay relevant.

badmojo wrote:

[ROTT] IanPaulFreeley wrote:

So I guess my main point is that Americans, above all other cultures, would be the quickest to just kick a PC to the curb because it's "old"

And what's your basis for this statement? I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but when you Americans compare your culture to others, as sliderider did earlier, do you realise that there actually are other cultures?? Did you consider Japan, or South Korea?

[ROTT] IanPaulFreeley wrote:

🙁 My take on EU and most other cultures in the world is that they're far more resourceful and make the most of what they have.

I guess when considered on a "per capita" basis one could argue that other cultures other than Americans may be a greater "throw away" culture or whatever, but I think you make a good point in that other cultures in the world may be far more resourceful and make the most of what they have...in this respect I do not see any reason for anyone here to be confused as to your understanding of the 'existence' of other cultures besides American 😀 ...I think your point is well directed and valid for sure.

It's funny, a friend of mine just got back from Los Angeles and he mentioned to me that so many people were making fun of him for using a "flip phone" instead of a smart phone...🤣....some girl told him..."we don't do flip phones here"...🤣....his "flip phone is actually a two year old LG phone that actually has a lot of modern smart phone features but just happens to be a flip phone style.🤣 It's so ridiculous how people think sometimes...and this of course does not just happen in the US.

sliderider wrote:

What he says is true. Japan is also a "throw away" culture, probably even worse than USA. I remember reading a blog years ago by an American living in Japan and he says the amount of tech gear that the Japanese throw away merely because it's no longer the latest and greatest is staggering. He even went as far as to go around on trash day in Tokyo and take photographs of the things they were throwing away. PILES of televisions only a few years old, PC's and laptops, stereos, cell phones, even furniture that looked nearly new. To prove his point, he set out to re-furnish his entire apartment using nothing but his neighbors throw aways with before and after photos. Status is very important and the quality of your gear reflects your status to visitors to your home so everyone tries frantically to keep up with the latest trends even if they can't really afford it.

You make a very good point sliderider...but...If one was to statistically determine which culture is the the biggest "throw away" culture though, Japan may be one of the biggest or USA might be, I don't know for sure, but based on ignorance and resourcefulness, I would have to put my money on the USA. I base this on the fact that Japan has a more educated population than the USA (performance wise - Japan spends much less on education per capita, but outperforms the USA by far in Science, Math, literacy, etc.) [ 😐 ....NO OFFENCE to ANYONE FROM US- these are just FACTS... 😐 ] and based on the shear size of the USA compared to Japan, I believe that if you took all the "e waste" the US produces and tried to fit it into a country like Japan which is exceedingly smaller than the USA, then I think one would be able to see the difference pretty quick. In addition the e waste that you point out that is thrown out by Japan is most likely staggering because of the high density of people living per square meter as the much lower population density in the USA which would make a pile of e waste collected in one area look absolutely staggering compared with e waste spread out over a larger distance and tucked away in basements of huge american suburban homes 🤣.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html Japan population density = 836 per sq mi USA= 84 per sq mi....crazy difference.

You also have to look at relative population density. People in urban areas have a very high density in the USA as well. And rural people far less so (as in JP).