Electric bulbs were originally designed to last forever. In a fire station in California, a bulb has been working since 1901. However, In the early 1900s,The Phoebus cartel met & devised ways to limit their lifespan to 1000 hours. This is the origin of planned obsolescence.
Planned obsolescence is a policy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete and so require replacing, achieved by frequent changes in design, termination of the supply of spare parts, and the use of nondurable materials. (Source: Google)
Lightbulbs and many other things especially technologies could easily last for decades but it’s more profitable to introduce artificial lifespans so that companies get repeat sales.
Derek Muller explains the concept of planned obsolescence here. This is one of the best YouTube channels to learn cool stuff.
youtube.com
youtube.com
Loading suggestions...