Made to Break 2

I was a little disappointed in this second half of the reading. I had really enjoyed reading the first part and thought I'd really enjoy the second part as well. I enjoyed reading about American's disposable nature in the first half and it really clicked why obsolescence is so big here. Chapter four talks about the development of the radio, and how television pretty much replaced that. The development of FM radio though is what kept radio alive. Looking at radio now though, I have to say I think it's starting to be come obsolete. With the development of satellite radios, the way we listen to music has changed. Now there are suddenly so many possibilities. I remember when I was a kid, my mom used to have a huge stereo system in our kitchen, and the radio would almost always be on. Now though, I don't even have a radio, or stereo system in my house. We use itunes radio, or pandora. The technology of online radio I think is starting to make FM obsolete. The only time I listen to the radio is in the car, because I do not have satellite radio. I don't think this new technology is necessarily a bad thing. We have developed something that does not completely replace the old technology, FM radio is still around, but we are making improvements. I think this is a good example of obsolescence because it improves our day to day lives.
Another thing Slade talks about in this second section is suburban obsolescence. I'm not sure I really understand this section. I do understand that after the World War soldiers came home without anywhere to go, but I do not feel that homes are something that become obsolete. Homes are reused for sometimes hundreds of years. So this section confused me a little.
Planned Obsolescence is the desire to own something better than the last version that is unnecessary. Most of Americans are guilty of this, and companies take advantage of it. I think this has it's pros and cons to it, and is not entirely negative or positive. It is obviously great for the big companies that make things that are unnecessary and know we will buy. On the other hand though, it also keeps the companies making newer faster things for us consumers to buy, which increases the speed of technology. This I thinks is a huge pro for planned obsolescence. Looking back to the book we read a few weeks ago, Computers, the big computer companies like Apple, wouldn't have continued to make their computers faster and smaller, if no consumers wanted them. Because there is a demand, the companies produce.