Electrical/Electronic Items and Leckie Use

It's one thing to read on BBC news that British consumers will buy about 30 million electrical and electronic items over the coming six months.

It's another to try to wrap my head around the fact that:

Britons are increasingly regarding electrical and electronic items as indispensable. Two-thirds of people planning to purchase a cordless phone said it was an "essential item", while a half of those intending to buy an electric toothbrush said the same. Over the past 10 years, electricity use by electrical and electronic gadgets has risen by 47%; but the next five years will see an increase of 82%. The efficiency of refrigerators has increased markedly, however, so many houses now have two fridges that the total energy consumed by home refrigeration has gone down by only 2% over the last 8 years.

How did people get by with rotary dial phones and using "manual" toothbrushes? Life must have been so difficult (rolling my eyes).

It wasn' the stone age. It was only a decade ago.

It's this idea that growth of everything is good, that a certain form of consumer behaviour gets seen as normal, when taking the long view, the planet's been around for 4.6 billion years, and the Industrial Revolution is only 180 years old.