advantages of technological obsolescence

I'm often getting disgusted with most of my techno toys as it seems that they become obsolete by the time I have brought them home from the store. From computers, to stereo equipment, cameras and musical gear, even the top of the line toys have replacements coming out within months. So what do we do about this?

Well, one approach is to take the luddite path, and ignore any new developments in technology. I must admit that I've assumed this profile at certain times, and to this day I haven't bought into the i-Pod or HDTV trends. But there are certain gadgets that I just can't live without, such as computers or digital cameras. And as much as I would like to continue to use the same PC or camera forever, the software companies have ensured that we'll have to upgrade if we want to be able to surf the web and be productive into the future. Sadly enough, my obsolete products are still working. So what can I do with them?

This is one of those times rare occasions when being a parent actually results in being "green", as we can often pass on yesterday's gadgets, much to our children's delight. For example, I recently cam across my old digital camera. It is an HP, but only shoot at about 3 megapixels. I quit using it when I upgraded to my current 7 megapixel model, but the old model still works fine. I considered selling the old model on eBay, but it was only fetching around $10, if it sold at all. So I decided to give it to my six-year-old, a budding photographer. She's been using it constantly for like a week now, and the only real cost to me is the time to unload it for her, and the cost of a good set of rechargeable nimh batteries, which are an an absolute must for digital cameras, especially those being used by children who take 300+ pictures in a couple of hours.

In a nutshell, it is difficult to see any advantage in the development of technological "throwaway" products, but we can at least let our children use them for fun.