“♫Can you practice what you preach? Or would you turn the other cheek?♬”. These lines come from “Where Is The Love?”, a 2003 hit by The Black Eyed Peas. Other artists use the lines in different ways for their songs, too. For example, Madonna’s 1986 hit song, “Papa Don’t Preach”, contained this line in the chorus: “Papa don’t preach, I’m in trouble deep”! Okay, the songs themselves don’t actually relate to fixing, re-using and repurposing computers. But the sentiments fit nonetheless!
Anyway, hello again, fellow readers and fixers! I hear you ask, “Why bring up the above songs, as well as the saying itself”? Well the thing is, we aim to do our bit in reducing the amount of e-waste we send to landfills. By fixing and renewing computers and other items, we keep them going for longer. We also suggest going for refurbished units as replacements for devices which are too old to keep running.
But sometimes, even we struggle to practice what we preach ourselves – I raise my hand in admitting this here! I myself see – and buy – all kinds of brand new stuff in shops and online stores over the years. So why do we succumb to the temptation of buying new, instead of refurbished? How do we take the easy way out by replacing broken items, rather than fixing them? And why do manufacturers constantly lure us into doing so in the first place?
What does “practice what you preach” mean?
Basically, it refers to leading by example through behaving in the same way you expect others to behave. The idea originates from Asinaria, or “The Comedy of Asses”, by Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. In the comedy play, Libanus had this to say upon replying to a remark about hugging one another while chatting:
“Tastes differ about what’s pleasant, sir, let me tell you that. A fond pair like you find it pleasant to hug each other while you do your chatting; but, personally, I don’t care for this fellow’s hugs, and as for mine, he scorns ’em. So you go on and practise yourself what you preach to us.”
Libanus – Act 3, Scene 3 English translation from Asinaria (The Comedy of Asses)
Roughly two centuries on from then, the phrase appeared in Matthew 23 of the Bible. Here, Jesus comments about the religious leaders of His time, specifically the Scribes and Pharisees. Particularly, He says the following to the crowds and His disciples:
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”
Matthew 23:2-3 from the Bible
He refers to the hypocritical actions of these religious leaders. They tell others to follow their teachings, but they don’t do the same themselves! And so, Jesus warns his disciples against behaving in the same hypocritical manner. Over subsequent centuries, people came up with variations of the phrase to convey the same meaning.
So what makes it so difficult?
There are several facets which make it difficult, even for people who are most ardent in reducing waste in general. These factors come together to keep consumers constantly buying new things. Here, we describe the main factors, and how they hinder us as we practice what we preach…:
Planned obsolescence
Ah, planned obsolescence. The perennial roadblock which gets in the way of building a sustainable society. Manufacturers build whole business models around sales of new products and expensive repair services. As we previously covered, they use various approaches to hinder our efforts to repair our own items, and get us to buy new ones instead. Think sealed-in batteries in phones, which make replacing them difficult when they wear out – or become spicy pillows!
Negative experiences with refurbished items
Sometimes, one bad experience with a refurbished item is all it takes to put consumers off buying refurbished products altogether. In turn, this makes them perceive new items as “safer choices”, as they will get a pristine item which works out of the box. Examples of bad experiences (some of which can also apply to new items as well!) include:
- Receiving a broken, faulty or DOA item. Sometimes, a broken, or faulty or dead device slips through quality control and into the hands of an unsuspecting buyer. This is especially annoying when they spend large sums of cash on a refurbished device.
- Receiving an activation locked Apple device. Activation Lock is part of Apple’s Find My anti-theft services. It helps owners track and wipe their Apple device in the event of loss or theft. While this feature is very useful, other people can’t use the device, if the previous owner forgot to remove the Activation Lock first! As a consequence, for example, charity shops discard a large number of perfectly working Apple devices.
- Receiving a device which the previous rightful owner reported as lost or stolen. Sadly, there are thieves and other bad actors in society who steal various electrical gadgets. And so, when you buy one of these devices, you may end up receiving a stolen item. Thankfully, you can check a device you have an interest in, to see if it is on a database of lost and stolen devices.
- Receiving a different item to the one the customer originally ordered. Sometimes, when we order something online, we receive the wrong item instead. For example, this may happen due to the ordered item being out of stock, and the retailer or seller sending an equivalent alternative item instead.
- Poor customer service from the seller and/or marketplace. Botched item repairs. Multiple trips to the same or different repair shop. Repairs which don’t last long before an item breaks again. Problems getting a refund on a faulty or DOA refurbished item. These issues may drive customers to take shortcuts through purchases of new items.
Marketing
Marketing is everywhere. Often, they take on the form of adverts. They pop up on billboards, newspapers and websites. You hear them during breaks on commercial radio stations. Retailers also drape their store fronts with fancy banners and pictures, promoting discounts on stuff. Social media personalities, such as YouTubers and TikTok influencers, commonly promote brands themselves directly, in return for goods and/or money. Whatever they do, they aim to achieve one goal – to get you to buy their brand new items.
Consumer attitudes
Unfortunately, some people in our society always default to buying new, however hard we try to convince them otherwise. They stubbornly refuse to even consider a refurbished device, let alone actually buy one. They perceive refurbished devices as “inferior” to a brand new model. Even a tiny scratch or scuff mark makes them run away and head for the nearest store selling new stuff. And what’s more, they even reject more sustainable and repairable devices such as Fairphones. Plausibly because in their minds, specsheets and value for money are everything…
And so, these attitudes are a shame, at a time when our planet is full of electronic waste. Because had they bought perfectly-working pre-owned gadgets instead, they can save them from going into recycling (or even worse – landfill!). And, by opting for more repairable devices, they can more easily keep them working for longer themselves!
Frequent product refreshes
Many manufacturers release new products on a regular basis. They often do so by making new models with iterative changes to specifications or designs. Or, they may rebrand an existing product and present it as a new product. This approach is particularly common among mobile phone and car brands, who release identical products for different markets under different names. Because of the regular product refreshes, we tend to buy things more often than we should.
Lobbying
Manufacturers often get behind various trade and lobby groups. These groups campaign against measures to make it easier for individuals and independent repair shops to repair various items. Campaigns against right to repair typically incorporate propaganda, (mis/dis)information, loaded language – and FUD! Lots and lots of FUD! (And no, we’re not referring to a certain part of the human anatomy, to our Scottish readers and fixers!)
Actually, FUD is shorthand for “fear, uncertainty and doubt”. It is a way of using negative emotions, such as fear and anxiety, to dissuade people and politicians from acting against manufacturers’ interests. These emotions hold people back from enacting measures to facilitate right to repair, and learning to fix items themselves. And ultimately, to push them towards expensive repair services offered by manufacturers themselves.
How do we practice what we preach, then?
We can still practice what we preach by taking steps ourselves to reduce how much e-waste we produce. One main way we can achieve this, is to embrace our five R’s; renew, repair, reuse, remix and recycle. To summarise each of these:
- Renew: Upgrading, resetting or refurbishing computers, mobile devices and other electronic devices.
- Repair: Fixing devices by replacing broken parts and components with working ones.
- Reuse: Salvaging working parts as they are from unfixable devices, in order to use them for repairs or upgrades.
- Remix: Turning useful parts which no longer work for their original purpose into other useful things.
- Recycle: Sending away unusable or completely obsolete items for recycling. This is the last resort for when we cannot find any suitable uses for parts or devices.
Empowering people to fix their own devices is a great way to reduce e-waste. By learning how to replace worn, faulty or broken parts, they can save money on repairs and reduce the need to buy a whole new device. They can also use iFixit to find instructions on how to repair or replace parts for their device.
But what if some people insist on buying new?
As we previously mentioned, some people just don’t trust refurbished devices enough to buy these, instead of new ones. In this case, we offer an olive branch by sharing some tips to reduce purchases of new devices:
- Maximise time between new purchases. The idea is to use new products for as long as possible from the date of purchase. By spreading out purchases of new devices, we can reduce the number of products manufacturers churn out of factories. And in turn, this helps reduce e-waste.
- Choosing easy to repair devices. Ideal devices are products which you can take apart and repair easily with just a single screwdriver. By selectively buying easy-to-repair devices, you help show manufacturers why repairability is important in products. This also helps put pressure on them to make their products easy for users to repair.
- Buying devices which you can turn into other useful things. If you can’t use something for its intended purpose anymore, you can still it for other things. By getting creative with how you use parts from broken or faulty equipment, you can help reduce the amount of e-waste.
- Buying devices with readily available parts. Equally as important as easy repairability, is finding spare parts easily. Various parts manufacturers supply aftermarket parts for many popular mobile devices and laptops. So when your device breaks, you can buy just the part you need to fix it.
Closing thoughts…
All in all, yes there is always the strong temptation to go for the latest shiny new device coming out. But through repair and reuse, we can condition ourselves away from always buying new! And, we can practice what we preach to encourage others to do the same. Together, we can resist the allure of new and carry on using the devices we already have. So keep calm – and don’t let the OEMs scare you out of fixing your stuff!