The Afterlife Of Electronics
3 million tons of e-waste are produced every year in the United States. What really happens to all of it? We know that through companies like Sunnking they are responsibly recycled. But every year, a significant number of electronics are transported to other countries outside of the States, whether it be for reuse, recycling, or just disposal. Unfortunately, we have very little knowledge about what actually happens to these devices.
Because of this “mystery” of where our e-scrap and second hand electronics go, researchers at MIT decided to investigate the afterlife of e-waste by starting a project called Backtalk.This unique project tagged donated laptops from non-profits to see exactly where they traveled after their first owner. The researchers turned these second-hand laptops into “reporters” to document the afterlife of electronics! The amazing feedback reported gives us first hand perspectives that make you think about our society’s relationship with electronic devices.
Backtalk “literally shows the world through the lens of obsolete devices.” The computers that were tracked were set up to record locations and pictures of the new owners using the computers (with their consent of course). The MIT researchers obtained data using software called Prey, which records the GPS coordinates of the computer and takes a picture with the computer’s camera every 20 minutes. Volunteers on this project used their laptops from their classrooms, libraries, homes, and on the road to share realistic pictures of their everyday lives in their home country.
The team used the pictures and data obtained to build visual narratives about the computers’ new lives as you can see in the video at the top of the post. By watching this little clip, you can be taken from a e-waste recycling village to a classroom or a home instantly! These visual narratives can put us at ease for a moment knowing these specific electronics are not just contributing to the waste stream.
Learn more about this awesome project here! These visual narratives are also on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in an exhibit entitled "Talk To Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects" until November.