Clinging to the T-Rex of Cellphones - WSJ.com

About

Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

Join us on Facebook and Pinterest, too.

We welcome your tips, suggestions, and feedback. Contact: unconsumption@gmail.com

[Background on, & press coverage of, Unconsumption can be found here and here.]

Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

Unconsumption is free.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

* * *

Alumnus & Unconsumption logo creator: Clifton Burt, graphic designer, Portland, OR

Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

8:19 pm - Mon, Apr 2, 2012: 34 notes

Clinging to the T-Rex of Cellphones - WSJ.com

Most consumers rush to get the hot new cellphone—every 17 months on average, according to J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing-information company. …

Still, the holdouts cling to obsolete models with clunky designs. These die-hards say they are reducing waste and like sidestepping costly service contracts. …

David Blumenthal still uses a five-year-old green Samsung flip phone, even after his Welsh terrier chewed the case to “the consistency of an old piece of gum,” he says. He tried to buy a replacement cover but couldn’t find one. So he put Scotch tape over the back to hold in the battery.

“It’s a very basic, functioning telephone, and that’s what I use it as—a telephone,” says the Chestnut Hill, Mass., attorney. Raised in a frugal Maine family, Mr. Blumenthal sees no need to “keep running out and buying new things if you can patch them and they hold together.”

I don’t know about you, but I kind of love this attitude.

Then again, I have some experience with clinging to outdated gadgets…