An under-rated spec: Cost per use
This post was inspired by two recent trending posts: Your Laptop Has More Than Three Years in It and I just wanted to show off my new old iPod.
I, too, am a fan of old tech and of using what I have for as long as possible. It becomes a sort of game, seeing how long I can go. I've learned a fair bit about technology (in particular open source software) in efforts to prolong use. And I feel good about myself for taking care of my stuff as an expression of anti-consumerism. I offer no new arguments on this front.
Rather, I want to invite others to think of tech the way I do, and that's cost per use. Here are a few real-world examples.
I got a second-gen iPod nano in August 2007. I remember because I was just about to start high school and having such a device was a status symbol, but it was also in they heyday of the iPod. I ended up using it until circa 2018. It was in service for 11 years. The model I got was $169 CAD, so in effect I spent $15.36 per year, or 4 cents a day to use the iPod nano. I'm excluding the calculation of inflation to keep this principle simple. But think about it: 4 cents a day listening to music? Compared to modern streaming of ~$12/month? Not bad.
The next example is my iPhone SE. I bought a refurbished model in the summer of 2018. It was my daily driver from July 2018 to August 2020, and again from October 2022 to June 2025. (I had the iPhone SE 2 in the interim of the two periods, downgrading because I missed the form factor of the OGSE.) I bought it refurbished as part of a phone plan, in which the cost of $240 was spread across 24 months. Although I still had to pay for my phone bill, let's take the cost of the device ($240) and divide it by the total duration of use (24 months in the first round + 32 months in the second = 56 months). In effect, I spent $4.29 per month of using the iPhone SE or 14.3 cents per day.
And that's when it was my main phone. I nowadays use it as a dedicated music player. So, the cost per use will continue to decrease so long as I use it. Let me say that again: the cost per use will continue to decrease as long as I use it.
The way I see it, this is how one gets value in taking care of their stuff and knowing how to use tools with purpose. It's not at all the pursuit of the latest and greatest for its own sake. It's about selecting the tools that support our lifestyles, or that solve our individual problems.
My last example is my ThinkPad T480, bought in the fall of 2018. It accompanied me throughout the pandemic and has been reliable throughout my graduate program. It's over seven years old, but using Linux (specifically, Debian with the Xfce desktop environment) makes it run incredibly smooth. Records indicate I spent about $1,110 on the purchase. I upgraded the RAM back in summer 2023 which was worth about $40. So (again, ignoring inflation and just using simple sums), taking $1,150 and dividing it by the circa 86 months it's been in service, that's $13.37 per month, or 45 cents per day to use my laptop.
This arithmetic can be applied to pens, clothing, mattresses, mugs, etc. to evaluate purchases beyond technology. Now, I haven't gone so far as to define a threshold that deems a purchase as cost-effective. But I hope the thought process is simple enough to encourage reflection on what we give up to use our tools. Life consists of opportunity costs: resources—be it money or time or energy—expended in one area is precluded from expenditure elsewhere. So make what you spend count.
Maybe you aren't convinced by the environmental arguments of saving e-waste from the landfill. Maybe you can't help associating having the latest and greatest as a signifier of your self-esteem and self-worth. Maybe you just have the luxury of a large disposable income and are enthusiastic about tech. Those don't need to be addressed on my soapbox (at least for today). Whatever your relationship with consumerism, don't you at least want to know your money is put to good use?