Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy
www.cnbc.com
Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever before, and while it may be consumer smart, it comes at a cost to work productivity and the U.S. economy.

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.

  • thatradomguy@lemmy.world
    2·
    12 days ago

    Why tf make a new phone every year or 2 years then? Samsung has already made it so that there’s no reasonable benefit to doing that besides maybe battery life and camera. Everything else is commodity or gimmick at best. You can’t keep doing that anymore. Coming out with stupid flip phones is not going to solve this made up problem. Just fucking stop.

    • friend_of_satan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      11 days ago

      That comes out to $1.37 a day. I definitely think hardware should last way longer than that, and I even have computers running at my house that are over 12 years old, but $1.37 a day for something that most people use as much as their phone is not a bad deal. In this economy, that’s like half of a gas station soft drink, or like 10 miles worth of gas.

      Edit: Or 2 chicken McNuggets.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        2·
        11 days ago

        Yeah it took me a gpfew years to hop on the smartphone bandwagon because they seemed so expensive for something as unnecessary as a phone. Then I did the same math, considered how much I actually use it, even just for insipid games. The cost per use or per minute use, or for functionality is pretty reasonable, especially as phones get more capable.

        Ironically, it’s my computer that fails that math, especially as phones take over more functionality we used to need computers for

  • commander@lemmy.world
    7·
    12 days ago

    The only useful thing for new phones would be if there was easily discoverable good new games to buy with real pretty graphics. Instead the stores are adware platforms and phone cameras have been pretty good enough for a decade. Splitting hairs these days for improvements

  • رضا@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    12 days ago

    “cost the economy” when your economy is based on consumerism then not buying as fast destroys the economy.

  • Starski@lemmy.zip
    10·
    12 days ago

    Ive had my phone for upwards of 4 years now, and I plan on keeping it for at least another 4 unless something tragic happens. Oops sorry I guess I can’t afford food this week kids, those billionaires and investors might lose money so I have to go get a new phone

  • Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world
    8·
    10 days ago

    Americans are increasingly opting for reusable cups. This is costing the plastic cup industry billions.

    And how exactly is this bad?

    Spending less money on stupid stuff isn’t hurting the economy, for fuck’s sake.

    The exact same applies to smartphones.