Have you ever wondered why you need to change your cell phone every 2 to 4 years? Smartphones need replacing every couple of years, as battery life fades and software updates are no longer available. For women fellows here, have you ever questioned why nylon stockings last such a short time?
The answer for this, in case you wondered, is: "Planned Obsolescence". Planned obsolescence (also called Built-in Obsolescence or Premature Obsolescence or, more positively: Design for Lifetime) in industrial design and economics is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so that it becomes obsolete (i.e., unfashionable, or no longer functional) after a certain period of time. The rationale behind this strategy is to generate long-term sales volume by reducing the time between repeat purchases (referred to as "shortening the replacement cycle"). It is the deliberate shortening of a lifespan of a product to force consumers to purchase replacements. In
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