We used to have earbuds that don't need to be charged because they had a headphone jack, didn't get lost so easily because they had a cord attached to a headphone jack, never lost the bluetooth connection because they had a headphone jack, and they cost less because they had a headphone jack. https://bsky.app/profile/daisyfm.bsky.social/post/3l3mfjc6sn62k
What no one ever seems to say is that this is the exact opposite of being waste conscious. How do you think you keep outdated tech in your phone? It still has to be made somewhere, right? So somewhere a factory still has to be tooled up and making these parts instead of something else.
You often hear this complaint about the waste of old earbuds and them becoming trash, but what about the factories still making trash? Is a factory still making VHS tapes really benefiting the world? Or are you just making trash because you're nostalgic and can't let go?
Old wired earbuds were riddled with problems. They were a NIGHTMARE. So much so that selling cheap ones next to the gum in checkout lanes was commonplace and still is because they were basically considered disposable/limited lifetime. You often rated earbuds based on how long before they crapped out as the main feature. In their time they were already a huge waste product. Now that we've advanced past them for the most part, they're just trash that some people can't let go.
I'm still using wired headphones and earbuds extensively and not having any problems. This sounds like a skill issue to me.
Well now they're just making limited lifetime wireless earbuds. Cheap crap will always be made, it's a problem of societal scale. Manipulating the market and public opinion like phone companies did with headphone jacks is not a viable long-term solution for reducing waste.