Get the latest tech news
The bewildering phenomenon of declining quality
Airplane seats are getting smaller and smaller, clothes are unrecognizable after the second wash, and machines now answer our calls. Quality and care for craftsmanship seem to be things of the past
“This climate affects the judgments we make about the policies implemented and also the products and goods we consume.” According to the expert, the main factor driving this criticism is that the great promise of capitalism — if you work, you can have a decent life, buy a house, and go on vacation — is no longer being fulfilled; the social elevator has broken down. Packages of clothing from fast-fashion brand Shein await shipment at a factory in Guangzhou, China, on February 12.GILLES SABRIÉ (The New York Times / Contacto)There’s one conclusion that comes up repeatedly throughout this report: the perception that everything is of lower quality is more pronounced among older people. While it’s only natural to blame multinational corporations for maximizing profit margins at the expense of consumers, and governments whose budget cuts have strangled already depleted public services, market logic is hard to dispute: things aren’t necessarily worse — they’re, to a large extent, exactly what we want them to be, or what we’ve been made to want.
Or read this on Hacker News