A very expensive brick

If I look through baby pictures of myself and siblings it can be a bit difficult to tell us all apart. In many of our photos we’re dressed in the same sleepers and playing with many of the same toys. It’s not that as kids we didn’t also have stuff that was just our own, but for some necessities it made sense to hand things down to the next child. This will come as no surprise to most parents – children grow quickly, and once the baby paraphernalia has been outgrown it only makes sense to either save it for future baby or pass it along to another new parent whose kid is at the stage where they need it.

Up until recently, unless important safety features changed, many of the staples of infancy could be passed through many hands before wearing out. However, the introduction of smart devices for babies has complicated this hand-me-down ethic. In July, Snoo, a brand of smart bassinet, stopped offering some of the functionality of their product to those who bought one second hand unless they started paying for a subscription. Features of the smart bassinet include sensing when a baby is stirring and using motion and gentle noises to soothe them, as well as sleep tracking – all useful features for parents to get a little more sleep.

The Internet of Things has married the physical items we use throughout our day-to-day with smart features that can enhance our lives. However, when companies change their terms of service and implement subscriptions for functionality after the fact, or cease supporting these products altogether, it creates economic and environmental impacts. In the case of the bassinet, with only a month of notice features came at an unanticipated cost, leaving parents with an expensive product that no longer did what was promised when they bought it.

Spotify’s “Car Thing”, a device that someone can run their Spotify account from if their car doesn’t have an infotainment system, will be no longer supported as of December 2024. The company only produced the device for a matter of months back in 2022, but according to a class action lawsuit still managed to sell thousands of units. In December, only 22 months after their manufacture, every one of those devices will cease to work. This is referred to as “bricking”, as the user is essentially left with a very expensive brick. Those thousands of devices will have nowhere to go save for the e-waste bin at the landfill, not only wasting the money of those who bought the Car Thing, but also creating a human and environmental cost.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), of the millions of tons of e-waste generated in 2019 less than 20% was actually recycled. Much of our global e-waste ultimately winds up in landfills in developing countries where people earn income by scavenging through those discarded electronics. The people who do this are part of what the WHO calls the informal e-waste industry, as it is underregulated and the workers are unprotected. According to the WHO, these workers include millions of women, as well as children between the ages of 5-17. Electronics include precious and rare-earth metals which can be reused by manufacturers, but retrieving those metals exposes scavengers and recyclers to hazardous chemicals like lead and mercury. In addition to this, as e-waste sits in landfills (whether overseas or in our own backyard) and is exposed to the elements, those hazardous chemicals leech into the environment harming surrounding ecosystems.

This might make you think twice about purchasing a smart device, and rightly so. When considering a smart device, be sure to consider the company’s position around things like support, product longevity, their recycling practices, and whether they support the right to repair. Unfortunately, our technology industries have not built the end-life of their products into their business models, which has left those considerations on the conscience of the consumer.

There are, however, organizations that are pressing corporations and governments to be more responsible when it comes to the Internet of Things. Consumer Reports and the Public Interest Research Group, are pushing for the Federal Trade Commission in the United States to create guidelines around companies being able to use software to limit or cease functionality of a product after it has been purchased. Groups like the United Nations and WHO, work globally to research and bring awareness to the human and environmental cost of e-waste, as well as advocate for legal means such as treaties to address the control of e-waste exports.

However, until these slow regulatory processes yield results, as consumers it will continue to be up to us to do our homework when it comes to the global impact of our technology purchases.

Learn more

Parents Rage Against New Fee to Keep Their Smart Bassinets Smart. 2024. 'Sandra E. Garcia and Rachel Sherman. (New York Times - paywalled) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

How to Kill a Smart Device: Spotify Car Thing Post Mortem. 2024. Stacey Higginbotham. (Consumer Reports) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Spotify is going to break every Car Thing gadget it ever sold. 2024. (Slashdot) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Spotify Car Thing Lawsuit Class Action [PDF]. 2024. (Digital Music News) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Export of e-Waste from Canada: A Story as Told by GPS Trackers [PDF]. 2018. (Basel Action Network) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Electronic Waste (e-waste). 2024. (World Health Organization) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Children and digital dumpsites: e-waste exposure and child health - Summary for policy makers. 2021. (World Health Organization) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Children and digital dump sites: E-waste exposure and child health [PDF]. 2021. (World Health Organization) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

United Nations System-wide Response to Tackling E-waste [PDF]. 2017. (United Nations Environmental Management Group) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Canadian E-Waste has tripled, new study finds. 2023. (University of Waterloo) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Consumer Reports, U.S. PIRG, 15 other groups ask FTC to create clear guidance for ‘software tethering’. 2024. (PIRG) Last accessed 2024/10/02.

Correction log

Nothing here yet.