Despite all the advantages that the information age has brought with the irruption of technology in all spheres of modern life, one of the most pressing problems that we will have to face in the present and in future decades is the huge amount of Electronic waste or technological that we produce. This type of garbage is especially dangerous, since, in addition to polluting, it can lead to very serious health problems, both people and natural ecosystems relatively quickly if it is not managed correctly. If you want to deepen a little more in What is technological garbage, its causes and consequenceskeep reading ecology see and we tell you.
What is technological garbage
Technological garbage is waste that is produced by the elimination of equipment that operates with electricity. They can be both analog and digital although, with irruption of the digital era, most of the technological garbage we produce today is of this type.
However, it must be borne in mind that technological garbage is not limited solely to computers or mobile phones. When talking about technological garbage, it is included from this type of equipment to refrigerators, air conditioners, music players or bulbs. Technological garbage is, in short, any human creation artifact that, in order to be able to use, requires the use of electricity, either for it to work (such as a computer) or to fulfill its function by providing energy (such as the batteries of mobile phones).
The problem of this garbage is double, since, in addition to being extremely polluting and very harmful health, it is also a garbage that remains in the environment During times, they could exceed thousands of years in many cases, which influences the fact that it is so harmful.
Causes of technological garbage
The Causes of technological or electronic garbage We find them in five elements that are the cause of this type of equipment being eliminated and ended up contaminating the environment and assuming a very compromised public health problem.
Programmed obsolescence
The programmed obsolescence is the Forced expiration date of technological equipment. This expiration date is consciously scheduled by the producing companies of these goods in order to force the buyer to have to acquire a new equipment past a certain time after the purchase. It is a very questionable practice that, today, it is legal, which makes companies that manufacture technological equipment with programmed obsolescence can abuse the consumer without being involved in any kind of legal or economic damage.
In this other ecology article, we tell you more about what programmed obsolescence is.
Perceived obsolescence
In this case, we are faced with an even more sibyline and dangerous obsolescence than programmed obsolescence, since it entails the elimination of technological equipment even before they stop working. The obsolescence perceived refers to the consumer, and occurs when the consumer feels that a technological team that bought must be changed because it has been outdated.
In this case, the team in question works perfectly and fulfills their work without any problem. However, thanks to marketing and advertising techniques, it is possible to create the “need” to have a new team, which does the same or incorporates superfluous changes and of little importance but is presented as a need for the simple fact of “being newer.” In this case, the responsibility of the generation of technological garbage for this cause is due to both companies and consumers. The first to create the false idea that it is necessary to change one product for a new one when it has been outdated, and the seconds for not being able to realize what is actually happening.
Social projection
It is in relation to perceived obsolescence but, in this case, the objective is not directly to have a newer team, but to obtain a social image favored by the fact of having it. All societies throughout history have had certain uses that individuals used to demonstrate their social or economic position.
Currently, these uses continue to exist but have been modified. Nowadays, one of the most common uses when projecting a favorable social or economic position on the rest of society goes through the most novel technological equipment available in the market. This generates a vicious cycle of purchase and waste of technological equipment (especially in the case of mobile phones) that entails a very serious damage to the environment and for the person who practices it, since he tries to project a social image that will always depend on something that will not be his own person, which necessarily leads to the dissatisfaction of the consummate societies that manipulates the individual.
Hypertecnologization
On the other hand, beyond the irresponsible and questionable practices that encourage the creation of technological garbage, it must also be taken into account that one of the causes of the huge amount of technological garbage is due to the boom of this type of artifacts. Hypertecnologization entails the presence of technological equipment almost in any sphere of human existence and, consequently, this entails more equipment that has to be eliminated when they stop working.
Bad waste management
Finally, the last cause of the generation of technological garbage is found in poor management of this type of waste. Despite the irresponsible practices that have been mentioned, the fact that technological artifacts are not broken, they end up breaking. Even after several repairs, the situation can occur in which, indeed, the technological team cannot remain useful. In this case, the right thing will be to take said equipment to a clean point where it can be managed as a residue correctly, which will lead to recycling most of its components and, above all, withdrawing those elements that may be dangerous for the environment and for health and manage them in the proper way.
Main consequences of technological garbage
The Consequences of technological or electronic garbage They are varied and affect many different sectors. However, then we present some of the direct consequences of accumulation without control of such garbage and also some of those that require greater attention due to the problem, not only environmental, but also social that entail.
Release of heavy metals in ecosystems
The most harmful consequence of the generation of technological garbage that is not treated properly is the release of heavy metals and highly polluting elements in the environment. Some of these elements are mercury, lead, chrome, aluminum or cadmium among others, which, in contact with living organisms, entail very serious diseases or even death.
Earth, water and air pollution
Another of the consequences that the generation of this technological garbage entails is that pollution extends to the earth and water, as in the air, since, when the equipment is burned, many of the heavy metals already mentioned in the form of high toxicity gases release.
Heavy metal -related diseases
In relation to the release of this type of metals in any of the aforementioned media, these heavy metals enter the body of living beings and cannot be eliminated. This is because they are metals that are not present in ecosystems naturally, so organisms of living beings have not evolved to expel them.
In fact, these heavy metals, once they enter the body of a living organism, will remain within it for the rest of their life. In the case of humans, some of the diseases that are related to this type of toxic health metals are alzheimer’s and degenerative diseases of the nervous system, chronic fatigue, heart disease, dermatitis, anemia, asthma and irritation of the respiratory tract, arthritis, osteoporosis, diseases in the endocrine system, impotence, malformations in the fetus during pregnancy during pregnancy Renal, liver problems and even cancer.
Technological landfills
Likewise, another of the problems involved in the huge generation of technological garbage lies in disability when managing these waste. The consequence is that this garbage accumulates in technological landfills that, in addition to contaminating the local area, entails the risk of expanding its contamination radius in the event that a fire takes place and the toxic elements pass into the air.
Exploitation of communities and disadvantaged people
Finally, another of the consequences of the generation of technological garbage and the mismanagement of this type of waste is that activities that compromise communities and people of disadvantaged environments arise. On the one hand, it must be taken into account that the extraction of many of the metals that are used in the elaboration of technological artifacts are carried out in countries where labor legislation does not protect the worker (a good example are many Africa countries).
Consequently, a sector arises that, although it is true that it generates work, it is carried out in nefarious conditions and without any safety in the mines. This implies that many people who work in these conditions end up getting sick as a result of direct contact with this type of metals.
If you want to read more articles similar to Technological garbage: Causes and consequenceswe recommend that you enter our recycling and waste management category.
