Is software the new obsolescence tool turning domestic IoT into the Internet of Trash?

What is it about?

The paper highlights the unsustainability of the make and use of the current fleet of domestic internet of things (IoT) devices. By using 5 designed textual scenarios that shed light on how software and data-interactions are being designed to prematurely brick everyday smart devices, it explores user experiences and expectations around how they overcome or would need to overcome such situations. The paper has a special focus on repair as an intervention to prolong the lifespans of these devices.

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Photo by BENCE BOROS on Unsplash

Photo by BENCE BOROS on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In 2021, the world produced over 60 billion tonnes of e-waste. To give you a sense of its mammoth volume, if a string of 40-tonne carriage trucks were lined up together to carry 60 billion tonnes of e-waste, they could encircle the earth's equator. The e-waste volumes have been growing exponentially over the last few decades but recycling rates haven't come close to tackling it. The effects of e-waste pollution are also disproportionately felt in the global south, where women and children process this waste unprofessionally without any protections, making it both a social justice and public health issue in addition to it being an environmental issue. In the last few years, a new fleet of electronic devices equipped with IoT technology, colloquially known as "smart devices", have been pointing to an incoming flood of the "internet of trash" devices. Research has shown that big companies are abandoning their smart devices just after two years of support. Imagine buying a smart refrigerator and letting it go just two years after bringing it home? Our research aims to understand how we can prolong the life of these complex devices made up of hardware, software and data interactions that, on one hand, add to the existing functionality of domestic consumer devices, but on the other, make them thrice as vulnerable to dysfunction and disuse as compared to their "dumber" siblings.

Perspectives