How We Can Save The Environment by Extending The Smartphone Lifetime

With global temperature increasing every passing year, resulting in famine, droughts, tsunamis, and making several countries severely hot, climate change is the biggest concern among people. People have protested over the decades to push political and social change towards more eco-friendly choices on the societal and individual levels to prevent global warming. Such changes include moving towards renewable energy, consuming less meat to stop the release of methane gas, and many more.

Since every collective effort counts, no matter how small it may be, we as humans have the moral obligation to save and prevent the nature of the world from deteriorating.

A little fact that I’m sure you won’t be aware of is that in Germany, almost 20 million smartphones are sold each year, according to the BitKom report, and what's even more staggering is the fact that 8% of Germany’s CO2 emission is due to communication technologies.

A recent scientific peer-reviewed paper by the Wuppertal Institute titled Circularity as the Service discussed detailed, comprehensive mechanisms and strategies in which you can extend the lifespan of your smartphones to reduce CO2 emissions. The paper also argued that most people buy cell phones due to their deterioration and reduced functionality.

The paper further mentioned that even though German people replace their smartphones at an average of 2.5 years, if the public can extend it to 5 to 7 years, we can reduce the carbon emission produced by these gadgets by half. If the lifespan of smartphones is increased, the demands can be significantly reduced.

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In fact, an Austrian survey found that users want to use their smartphones for longer periods of time, around 5 years, rather than to replace them every 2.5 years.

As per the Environmental Product Declaration, the production phase causes 80% of the CO2 emission and this can be reduced if fewer phones are produced. The report also found the types of smartphone users to give a better perspective to the phone manufacturer to what type of phones are bought by the public so they can provide all the needs in a smartphone that can last over several years.

The paper categorizes smartphone users into groups: approximately 10% to 15% prioritize sustainability, 25% to 30% are pragmatists, and 20% to 25% prioritize aesthetics and high performance. This segmentation helps manufacturers understand consumer preferences and develop smartphones that meet durability expectations over several years.

Furthermore, the suggestion of repairability was majorly highlighted in the paper, emphasizing that smartphone companies must provide repair services for modular and designed parts at cheap rates. Additionally, security suggestions were also made to be at least 7 years because so far, android devices provide security for 4 years and Apple for 6 years.

Well, there you have it folks, another great way to protect our nature and at the same time save yourself the mental strain and the financial cost to buy a new smartphone every other 2 to 3 years.

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by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World