Post Az8LoXc6vraMpvFbXs by sbourne@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by sbourne@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #Az8GurNvpuyY7foQSm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:08:04Z
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I would like to get my phone screen fixed. I attach a kind of irrational shame to the sight of a crack phone screen. It makes me feel deeply "unemployed" ... and maybe that's because so often putting up with a crack was what I had to do when times were tough. But as of late I've been putting up with a crack for a year, and it's not because I can't buy a new phone for once in my life. I want to get it fixed.
(DIR) Post #Az8H3GgjdwaMurcIbY by steve@discuss.systems
2025-10-12T12:09:36Z
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@futurebird I feel like the broken screen havers
(DIR) Post #Az8HBloPoErZlIGNF2 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:11:10Z
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I want to go to a little grubby shop, cluttered with parts and watch an acerbic guy with a monocle cluck at the crack and then fix as I sit on an old diner stool fixed with layers of duct tape. I want to watch the subway cars pass on the elevated, and run off to get cash to pay since it's the kind of shop where you get a discount when you pay cash. I do not want to go to the "genius bar" I do not want to mail it in and probably just get a different phone back. I want MY phone fixed.
(DIR) Post #Az8HQr1sh6CAHokpXc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:13:53Z
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This isn't very rational. The biggest mistake of companies and markets is ever thinking that people were rational at all. There are things we need, experiences we want that can't go on a list of features. Repair is a ritual that speaks to deeper needs than a working phone, or the latest camera lens configuration. To repair electronics, to watch them be repaired is an almost religious experience. And no matter how much I'm willing to pay it seems this cannot happen.
(DIR) Post #Az8HzDPxxd4NZKP8ng by bradr@infosec.exchange
2025-10-12T12:20:03Z
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@futurebird Repair is a ritual that speaks to deeper needs than a working phone, or the latest camera lens configuration. We restore our tools to health.We raise our tools from the dead.We defeat death.
(DIR) Post #Az8I6cE87TKcXXOfZo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:21:26Z
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Another example of this are the compasses at my school. The 9th grade students use compasses and I spend a lot of time fixing the compasses. "we could just buy a new set"A new set would cost less than the ostensible hourly rate for my time. But I'm not paid by the hour, and happily everyone agreed that throwing away broken compasses was disgusting. It would set a bad example for the children. But every year I have to fight over this.
(DIR) Post #Az8IEu1poiuG4Fb6m0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:22:56Z
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At my limit, I added "understanding the repair and operation of tools such a drafting compass" to the educational standards. Thus, it's now a part of the mission to find all the little screws and file the leads to a point.
(DIR) Post #Az8JQbrvGEOLAu6inY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:36:12Z
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@akamran I am increasingly the person who people brings things to when they want them fixed. I have discovered why such people are acerbic. Why does everyone assume I can "just fix" everything? Why should I fix all of these things when it feels like repair isn't really deeply valued in our culture?Oh NOW you want me to fix it!But, I think I should fight the temptation to be cynical and angry, remember that repair serves a deeper need a purpose. Don the monocle.
(DIR) Post #Az8JTnsT4KTZHvsx8a by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:36:50Z
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@akamran And I know that people keep bringing me more things to fix because I keep fixing things. That's how that works.
(DIR) Post #Az8KC8LCLcGrUoShRA by NYSloth@mastodon.online
2025-10-12T12:44:47Z
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@futurebird @akamran When I was a child, a family friend repaired watches, clocks, and astronomical equipment for places like Harvard University. He showed me some old timepieces with the engraved signatures of generations of skilled clockmakers. He also signed his work. At the time, it struck me as a sort of vandalism. Now I understand and salute the practice.
(DIR) Post #Az8KT7xuzruxFpfzU0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T12:47:54Z
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@Fishercat We run one at our school!
(DIR) Post #Az8KjuZ64XbgcJ4Moy by grant_h@mastodon.social
2025-10-12T12:50:54Z
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@futurebird You want to visit Tony, yes? Although he only does mechanical cameras.https://www.deviantart.com/africanobserver/art/Tony-s-New-Workshop-543550894
(DIR) Post #Az8KmWnCuj9RkyuvJ2 by DeeLux_Fiat@todon.nl
2025-10-12T12:51:21Z
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@futurebird @akamran Repair culture is part of a culture of respecting skill and hard-earned expertise, learning and education. Don the monocle!
(DIR) Post #Az8Lj3DuUmCn8PJTcW by flowerpot@mas.to
2025-10-12T13:01:57Z
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@futurebird @akamran Well, at least there is a benefit to cognitive function for people who use their hands. I would think fixing things qualifies.https://neurolaunch.com/psychology-of-working-with-your-hands/
(DIR) Post #Az8LoXc6vraMpvFbXs by sbourne@mastodon.social
2025-10-12T13:02:57Z
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@futurebird Crazy thought probably, but maybe show your students how to do it? The hands-on will give them a deep understanding of how and why they work.
(DIR) Post #Az8Lsmr6CoqRGZHmvA by babelcarp@social.tchncs.de
2025-10-12T13:03:42Z
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@futurebird Alternatively you could think of it as crazing, like what happens to a beloved teacup.
(DIR) Post #Az8Ly7H3iVgs2dyBCS by pr_ret_lutz@jasette.facil.services
2025-10-12T13:04:41Z
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@futurebird I think "the system" pushes for this acculturation mechanism. Who wants farmers able to fix their tools when you can make tons of money servicing it by 'certified' technicians whose scarcity is subtly controlled (so you dont jump off). Repairing things is now a revolutionary statement.#Right2repair
(DIR) Post #Az8LysycMNSZzLi87U by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-12T13:04:52Z
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@sbourne I do this when I have the time. But it's important to point out that this isn't saving time in the short run. This solution takes more time. And at the end of the year someone needs to count the compasses and account for how many work, fix the broken ones and maybe buy one or two new ones.
(DIR) Post #Az8MVBcCb8g33rd0lc by sbourne@mastodon.social
2025-10-12T13:10:40Z
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@futurebird Oh and I'm sure some will actually make them worse. But I'm thinking more of putting, "I might be able to fix this!" as a pattern in their brain than cost savings.
(DIR) Post #Az8MtjW8CcAP9mUebw by coolcoder360@mastodon.gamedev.place
2025-10-12T13:15:05Z
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@futurebird this is the kind of thing I usually want to try to fix myself. Even if I break it some other way.Nice watch my wife got me stopped after some time, and also needed the band adjusted. Got a watch toolkit and adjusted the band and opened it up, just needed a new battery. Feels rewarding to be able to change my own watch battery and adjust the band and stuff myself.
(DIR) Post #Az8NnbBgMM3dXTZEf2 by Jestbill@mastodon.world
2025-10-12T13:25:11Z
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@futurebird @akamran So...slow it down and teach 'em how to fix it themselves. Things don't just break down once: life requires maintenance.
(DIR) Post #Az8Pdu4HVU6p6nbtY0 by TerryHancock@realsocial.life
2025-10-12T13:45:48Z
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@futurebirdOne of my frustrations is that so much of our (affordable) tech is designed to be disposable.I want a smartphone that is built like one of those early 20th century pocketwatches, with durable, repairable components that can be repaired that way.There is no technical reason not to do this. It's purely a matter of marketing and culture.Open Hardware / Maker culture has the will, but not the mass to make it viable. Corporate culture has the mass but not the will.
(DIR) Post #Az8QtyX0mOvxXUHBI0 by albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
2025-10-12T13:59:56Z
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@futurebird Having just sewn a hole in the fabric of my own shoes this morning, then assembled a bicycle from parts, after baking bread for breakfast and making my own instant chocolate from raw ingredients as a snack ... it really isn’t about saving money or time. It's about a certain lifestyle, experiencing the touch and feel of the world, living it by example, sharing and passing it on to the next generation.
(DIR) Post #Az8RX2MoS9syjE8EeO by thomasjwebb@mastodon.social
2025-10-12T14:06:59Z
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@futurebird I very much relate to this. I go out of my way to find people who want things I don't want anymore rather than dropping off at goodwill in hopes that it won't just end up in a landfill. I will even make a point of doing repairs on it if needed first. It makes sense environmentally but that's not the whole story.This is one thing I like about old stuff. Because it's often designed to be repaired ("they don't make it like they used to" is partly survivorship bias but not just that).
(DIR) Post #Az8Sj2SS2aVORK3WPg by dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-10-12T14:20:24Z
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@futurebirdWe need to get you a t shirt with "Don the Monocle" your mascot on it.(Don is a monocle in overalls who wears a monocle and fixes things with tiny screwdrivers)@akamran
(DIR) Post #Az8Xw7gCRAZYAbXqLI by StumpyTheMutt@social.linux.pizza
2025-10-12T15:18:45Z
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@futurebird There is a place that fixes phones not far from where I live. Replacing screens, batteries and even broken charging ports is their bread and butter. No acerbic old guy there though, maybe a couple of young Persian guys. But they will smile and say "again?" when you manage to crack the screen less than a month after they replaced it!
(DIR) Post #Az95DrIXNaU53yXeeO by stevenaleach@sigmoid.social
2025-10-12T21:31:44Z
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@futurebird My phone came with a pack of thin glass screen protectors, one of which I immediately installed... and which got cracked within a week or two. I've had the phone for years and still have the pack of pristine protectors in a desk drawer. Somehow since the crack isn't on the actual screen and I have the ability to make it pristine whenever I feel like it, it just doesn't bother me at all. Of course I'd be depressed if it *were* the screen instead even though it'd look the same.
(DIR) Post #AzA1xndl6brsNh4wcq by monsoonrains@mastodon.social
2025-10-13T08:29:54Z
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@futurebird Oh my God. I got my phone fixed last year. The lock/on/off button was basically buggered (I don't use iPhone).30 euro, half an hour, the lock button fixed. Phone is going on 4 years and is fine. Love keeping tech for as long as possible. Especially a phone since it's not even a luxury, literally a bloody necessity the way they force us to use it for so many things.But yeah. Quick phone fixes. That phone shop in Antwerp will always be my fav.
(DIR) Post #AzCqCiXpiWHGwgX9nc by Landa@graz.social
2025-10-14T17:02:15Z
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@futurebird yes, often the reward for a job well done is more work ;) I don‘t know what kind of things people ask you to repair, but maybe it’s because they trust you to take good care of things they value?@akamran
(DIR) Post #AzCzVfO4ZzyMF64xLU by burnitdown@beige.party
2025-10-14T18:46:36Z
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@futurebird the irrational thing is always making a new thing and never repairing the old. just make more trash. just make more trash. always make more. never fix anything, and always make more things to never fix. this came from the "rationalists". oh oops, they turned out to be fascists.