Why Nothing Lasts Anymore: Built to Break

Why does the phone you bought last year already feel old, while your grandfather’s watch still ticks decades later?

Built to Break uncovers the hidden system of planned obsolescence—the deliberate design of products to fail. From the lightbulb cartel of the 1920s to today’s fast fashion and yearly smartphone upgrades, this book reveals how durability was sacrificed for profit, and how marketing turned desire into an endless treadmill.

Through vivid stories of watches, furniture, gadgets, and clothes, it explains how consumerism reshaped our psychology, drained our finances, and left behind mountains of waste. More importantly, it shows how we can break the cycle: choosing quality, resisting impulse, and rewriting the story of progress.

Built to Break is both a cultural exposé and a hopeful guide—a call to reclaim durability in a world addicted to disposability.