Some Sporadic Observations about the Environmental Consequences of Smart Devices

Abstract

The growing number and popularity of smart devices is astonishing. Most people, despite some concerns regarding privacy, welcome these devices. A belief in the positive value of technological innovation drives the welcoming and consumption of smart technologies, together with an idealized view of a future in which we delegate many activities to these technologies. These devices are thought of and sold as contributors to a better quality of life, economic growth, and progress. However, these technologies are also driven by the capitalist imperative: the accumulation of capital. But the impression of these devices being smart and positive obscures these imperatives and their negative impacts, including their environmental consequences. In this paper, I draw attention to the environmental consequences of smart devices, pointing to the increasing extraction of materials and the pollution that their production and consumption entail. I also comment on their environmental inequalities tied to smart devices.