Goodbye, Machine
The 6th of March, 2025
Does anyone else here feel empathy towards inanimate things? I find that I often do, but perhaps I just have a heightened sense of empathy. I guess our society kind of trains us to feel for objects. Growing up, I’m sure you all had a plushie of some sort that you beloved and coveted. Seeing it taken away made you sad! It didn’t fulfill any kind of use or purpose of any sort; in reality, it’s just some stuffing bound in polyester in the shape of a creature, but in our hearts, it holds more value. It has a soul.
That moves me ahead about 25 years to today! There were some new iPads unveiled that seem very nice, and mine, growing old, is due for replacement! So I’m going to bring it into Apple to trade it in for a new one. They’ll throw my old machine into the proverbial wood chipper, and I’ll have the shiny new thing, but it’s all kind of sad, isn’t it! That machine I spent all those years with, playing on, creating on, is destined for the void.
Such is the nature of technology; the industry moves too fast for the empathetic soul.
As a result of this, my home is littered with computers and game consoles of the distant past, taking up space and collecting dust until the heat death of the universe as I play on whatever the new thing is.
There are people online who love to collect vintage computers and game consoles. I used to even be one of these people, my focus mainly being on gaming. These days, I find myself low on space and low on time to maintain such things! I can just play the old games on the new machine after all! So, I find myself hoarding machines I don’t even use these days.
I’m thinking this trade-in thing is a good excuse to buck this personal trend. It’s not just Apple; many companies offer trade-in services where they recycle the parts of their old goods or refurbish them for sale in developing countries. I highly encourage you all to do this with your old tech because it’s a win-win for everyone involved. I think as consumers, we should also put pressure on hardware manufacturers that don’t offer such trade-in programs (looking at you, Valve). I’ve never actually traded in anything before, so this will be my first time doing it myself.
Into the woodchipper you go.
Goodbye, Machine.
Typed up on a machine destined for doom, hosted on a machine destined for doom, and read on a machine destined for doom. (try not to let old friend’s corpses litter your home for too long)