A Digital Demise

My HP digital camera has decided not to work. When I turn it on, the display flashes for two seconds and then nothing. It's probably something to do with the programing or electronics but it is very frustrating. My other camera is a 30 year old Olympus OM10 and has been around the world with me twice. It takes great pictures - way better than the 3.2 MP HP camera. It's just a bit bulkier, has three lenses and uses rolls of film that are not the best for the environment when it comes to processing etc.

I've been thinking of this in the light of the movie "The Story of Stuff," the movie that got me started on this blog in the first place (see my first post last week.) The digital camera is only almost 5 years old. (But it seems contradictory to say "only 5 years old" in today's world especially when it comes to electronic goods as it seems that things get out of date in a matter of months.) In the movie, Annie Leonard tells of how manufacturing began to shift to "planned obsolescence" in the 50s. I don't know if that's what's happened to my camera but I am willing to bet that the manufacturer hopes that I "upgrade" sooner rather than later and, if it's a forced "upgrade," oh well! It's true, they don't make things like they used to (and I'm beginning to sound like those older people who always seemed to say "they don't make things like they used to.")

Well I can sit around and mope and gripe about it or I can think in terms of solutions. Now I know I am not going to have any direct influence on manufacturing practices but I began to think how it might be possible to change things. Manufacturers need to always have a market for their wares and today that means either planning that they will wear out after a period of time and people will buy another one or that you come up with a newer, faster, better model that the consumer will just have to buy and throw out the old model. But in a world with finite resources that doesn't really work.

So here's my little contribution to the problem, applied in particular to digital cameras.

What if the manufacturer designed a number of camera shells that look classy and that would build brand recognition? Build it to last with quality lenses and mechanical parts. Of course there is a large electronic component to digital cameras. Design it so that the electronic part or programming can be exchanged out for an upgrade or in my case, a replacement (although I would probably want to be able to upgrade at this point.) They can focus on developing better and better software and electronics but not have the hardware changed out each time. If someone wants to change the look of their camera and buy a newer or different 'model,' the old one would still be serviceable and could be sold on or passed on to someone else. The point is that it wouldn't have to end up in the landfill.

Sometimes a first small step starts with just changing the way we think about things. A shift in thinking can open out to new horizons. (We call this "reframing" in coaching.) I don't know if my idea is possible but it might spark another line of thinking that would help change the way we produce, buy, use and throw out digital cameras. Who knows what might happen? (Are you listening HP?)

That's my small step for this week. What's yours?