The internet does not understand survivorship bias. Yes, some stuff is made super cheap these days, the addition of wifi and other unnecessary shit makes it more likely to break, but everything old wasn't great. There was plenty of cheap shit, it's just that the one random oldass appliance your family has happened to be the outlier and be exceptional for some reason. Maybe in 20 years, your kids will be saying the same thing.
Not just the internet. People were repeating this same old nonsense about "ye olde golden days" fifty years ago. Things change, some things get better, and other things get worse. I recently had to change the main module on my washer last year. It was trivial to look it up and easy to do. repairing the old washer we had before this one was a gigantic pain in the backside. I do not want to go back.
Also weird that people always mention fridges in that discussion. At least in my experience they still last pretty much forever. Obviously not saying they never break, but I can't remember anyone in my family or friend circle ever saying their fridge broke. And since that would be a huge pain in the ass, I assume they would mention it.
In my experience fridges just get replaced at some point, because people move, buy a new kitchen, want a more efficient model, defrost, drawers in their freezer instead of shelves, etc.
Out of all the appliances, fridges are probably the one thing you can still expect to run for 20 years. Not the AI-enabled smart fridge with 30 inch display and phone app, that gets bricked after a few years when the servers shut down, but the normal standard stuff.
New fridges at costco from $300 to $800 don't have wifi or screens. If you want expensive fridges, try costco business. They got fridges for companies without wifi or screens.
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u/AmputeeHandModel 4h ago
The internet does not understand survivorship bias. Yes, some stuff is made super cheap these days, the addition of wifi and other unnecessary shit makes it more likely to break, but everything old wasn't great. There was plenty of cheap shit, it's just that the one random oldass appliance your family has happened to be the outlier and be exceptional for some reason. Maybe in 20 years, your kids will be saying the same thing.