Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy

This constant consumerism is destroying our world.

The main topic the article is talking about is a drag on business efficiency from a slower upgrade cycle and running workloads less efficiently on old equipment.

>Small businesses, in particular, lose valuable hours each year due to lagging systems, creating what economists call a ‘productivity drag,’” Benabess said. On a national scale, this translates to billions of dollars in lost output and reduced innovation. “While keeping devices longer may seem financially or environmentally responsible, the hidden cost is a quieter erosion of economic dynamism and competitiveness,” she added.

Of course it's on CNBC for writing the article this was. It likely never would have made it here without that spin however. State of the media environment.

As someone who makes enough money to buy a new phone every year if I wanted, I typically hold onto an iPhone for about 4 years. My experience is that this is about as long as it takes for enough new features to accumulate to make me excited about an upgrade. By the end of this 4 year period, my phones are in a sufficiently good state to be sold or passed on to a family member.

The idea that there's some sort of expectation that a typical person is expected to upgrade their phone every 2 years or so seems completely nuts to me.

Laptops, PCs ? I am on 10 year old Laptop and that works just as good as any modern system. I do not use any Microsoft products so there is no need to upgrade. Plus, any new system will probably not work with my preferred OS for a couple of years, that means if I buy, I always buy used.

Damn. I don't think I've ever had a phone for less than 5 years before I was forced to replace it.