The hidden cost of media use falls under a rather large umbrella. The one being the biggest and most influential cost is the life of someone. From experiment to research paper, we may as well come to a conclusion that our technology will eventually swallow us and spit us out whole (if it hasn’t done so already). Lets take the Apple IPhone for a prime example. The company uses minerals known as conflict minerals such as tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold) to produce components of the IPhone. Conflict minerals are sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This mineral trade is the main fund for armed groups such as the Militias.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, E-Waste can be defined as ‘waste electrical and electronic equipment that is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to function’. E-waste is mostly produced in wealthy nations like Australia, Europe, United States and Asia and shipped off to developing countries such as Ghana, Africa. Children as young as 5 salvage minerals such as copper in order to scrape together a living, they burn the plastic off the wires which causes highly consequential health issues such as burns, cuts, headaches the inhalation of fumes and smoke. E-waste also effects the environment. Because the technology is dumped, it adds to the already overcrowded landfill sites and peoples habitats. Inner Mongolia Baotou lake is a prime example of where E-Waste is impacting on our environment.
Baotou Lake Mongolia
I think it is fair to say that technology today is designed and produced for planned obsolescence. Also known as ‘Designed for the Dump’.
Bringing you back to Apple and the manufacturing of their technology such as the IPhone and IPad moves me to the issue of sweatshops. Within the FoxCon factory in China, the Apple IPhone and IPad are produced many matters of concern have erupted from the factory. The working conditions of these employees are horrendous. In 2010 Foxconn workers were given a raise to $298 per month, or $10 a day, or less than $1 an hour. Some employees work up to 70 hours per week. These statistics are just a snippet of the working conditions these desperate people work in to make a living. In 2011 18 employees were so discouraged by the conditions of an Apple Supplier Plant they killed themselves.
These ‘hidden’ costs bring me to the topic of ‘greening the media’. ‘Greening the media focuses on the environmental impact of media- the myriad ways of that media technology consumes, despoils and wastes natural resources’ (Maxwell, R. and Miller, T. 2012) Maxwell and Miller have also developed that concept of Green Citizenship which illustrates ways in which society can ‘reuse, reduce and recycle’.
– ABS.gov.au,. ‘Electronic And Electrical Waste’. N.p., 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
– Blodget, Henry. ‘Apple’S Sweatshop Problem: 16 Hour Days, ~70 Cents An Hour’. Yahoo Finance. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
– Enough Project,. Conflict Minerals 101. 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
– Maughan, Tim. ‘The Dystopian Lake Filled By The World’S Tech Lust’. BBC Future. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
– Maughan, Tim. Baotu Toxic Lake. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
– Maxwell, R. and Miller, T. (2012). ‘Introduction’ in Greening the Media, Oxford University Press, pp. 1-20.
– SBS ONE,. E-Waste Hell. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
– The Story of Us Project,. The Story Of Electronics. 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
– Vinter, Phil. ‘2,000 In Staff Riot At Iphone’s Chinese ‘Sweatshop’ Factory After ‘Guard Beats Up Worker”. Mail Online. N.p., 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
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