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Learning to Repair My Busted TV Taught Me How to Love the Internet Again
Just because you can’t fix a new Apple laptop doesn’t mean you can’t fix anything
Ever since I was young, I’ve had the desire to do things on my own and make them last. I’m also frugal. I’ve got tools in my workshop that are well over 40 years old, my car just turned 30 and my Sorel Caribou boots are going into their 29th winter. I’m an engineer by training and I’ve spent the best part of two decades working on electronic control systems and embedded software, so I’m not afraid of or averse to tech in any way. I like to get my hands dirty, literally and figuratively.
But I’m not the first to notice that lately “tech” has changed. After seeing the impact that Facebook and Twitter have had on society this decade, I’ve come to believe that so much of the tech that seemed like such a boon just 20 years ago now seems like a net negative; one that is accelerating the end of civil society. This is especially true when these social media platforms are used by so-called influencers and narcissistic pseudo-visionaries and pseudo-populists to cultivate cults of personality.
And then there are the hardware companies churning out vast quantities of unrepairable devices with limited lifespans that are also often impractical or dangerous to recycle. I have a 2009 MacBook Pro that I’ve replaced hard drives in, added RAM to, and swapped out batteries from, and it still runs. Try doing that with any recent Apple laptop.
Over the course of my 50-plus years on the planet, I’ve learned skills including carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work that have allowed me to keep stuff running and not have to pay vast sums of money to have someone else fix. While I firmly believe that the ability to reconnect with long-lost high school crushes is of dubious benefit, there are aspects of the web that are still great, especially for those of us who love DIY repairs.
As the world of home video has transitioned from massive cathode ray tubes to ever slimmer flat panels, like much of technology, these devices have become less repairable. Big flat TVs are now so seemingly inexpensive that when one goes bad, people are more likely to toss it and buy a new one than to repair it. But…
