Blog/2025-11-29/Things Do Last
Something that's common these days is for people to talk about how things don't last and so on and so forth, but in my experience things do last a really long time. I only recently gave away a 4790k-based system that's some 10 years old and it still works. It's just not particularly power-efficient or fast compared to a present day machine.
But the thing that most struck me is this microfiber blanket I bought from Big Lots, a home goods store in North Carolina, when I moved to the United States. It's been over 13 years now with me. I even have leather shoes from when I first moved to San Francisco. Overall, I think the principal reason for me to get rid of things is that something better has come along and it isn't worth using the old thing anymore.
All the talk of planned obsolescence and so on doesn't ring true with me. My Aeron has come with me through 4 jobs and it was under $300 used the first time. The microfiber blanket was cheap, maybe $30. Materials science has just advanced to such a degree that there are so many cheapish items that last forever.
In general, the things I own do last a long time. A small number of things do fail, and there are things I buy knowing that they're built to be temporary: the Ikea bed frame is one. If it failed by the time I finished uni I wouldn't have minded very much. It was $60. But it didn't even fail then!
Overall, I'm very pleased with how good things are these days for such a low price.
