this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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If we can convince the ignorant masses to stop buying based on consumerism and purchase based on well informed decisions instead then we would see a shift in enshittification or at least have alternatives. But that's very unlikely since it's easier to conform and fall in line and accept your fate.
Think of how much people whine about printer ink without A) looking for alternatives and B) questioning why their printer was fucking free (with rebate).
I got off the inkjet bandwagon almost 30 years ago now. All it takes is doing the math; most print jobs can be done on a compact laser printer, and the ones that can’t can be sent to a print shop for same-day printing, and I still come out ahead, even with binding included.
It also expects that people are content to actually fix things, or sew tears in clothing, or whatever, and that often requires a little research and initiative in a world where it's been made abundantly cheap and convenient to just replace almost everything.
I don't think it's necessarily ignorance so much as a combination of laziness and incredible convenience.
A few years ago I taught myself to fix my laptop screen via Youtube and saved myself a $400 repair, but most people would just chuck it and buy a new one.
The issue is not whether people are willing to do it, but whether they should be allowed to.
I can't think of any situation where disallowing people from repairing their own property makes any sense. The only ones it makes sense to are the ones who profit from it.
I can think of one, but the issue is largely a thing of the past: old CRT TV's or monitors. If you attempt to repair one without knowing what you're doing, you literally could get yourself killed.
That said, I still agree with you wholeheartedly. I'd much rather mandate dangerous to repair products be labeled as such, but the design and construction of consumer products should never prohibit the end user from being able to repair their own property.
It's also super easy to die when your car falls off a jack and you're working underneath, but we don't forbid homemade oil changes nonetheless.
And the when we had CRTs maintenance was actually encouraged, one of the oldest TVs I remember using had circuit schematics in the manuals.
Also, it won't always be them. It will be a repair shop. If things were built to be repaired, it would be quicker and cheaper to repair them.
We need to mandate interoperability and open protocols (as we did with all our other communication media prior) to avoid the siloing of users in captured commercial ecosystems.
I thought this for a long time. However currently I am no longer convinced. The production is so far decoupled from the consumer and often investor (or otherwise) dependant. So the consumer doesn't really necessarily have the chance to support a good company nor do good things need to be offered.
I short: eat the rich and reform the stock market.
It's long time propaganda pushing the fault to the consumer (e. G. Footprint invented. By oil companies)
Yes, yes, yes.
And drastically reform or reimagine all the IP laws.
Copyright: 5 years, one optional 5 year extension.
Patents: 5 years, no extensions. No business methods, no algorithms, no gene expressions.
Owned only by the individual humans and groups of humans. Cannot be owned by trusts, funds, corporations, estates. Cannot outlive the last human owner in a group.
All licensing is non-exclusive only! All licensing is irreversible (once you license out the patent non-exclusively, no way to halt midway through the licensing term).
That way pattents cannot be hoarded by the patent troll entities. Since all exclusive agreements are forbidden, no way to corner the market! Inventors are free to license their inventions all over and cannot be strong armed into an exclusive deal.
In other words, ownerships, paywalls, and corporate control must be severely curtailed.