Moore’s Law and Network Effects, Essay Example

E-waste, is electronic waste that is a growing concern, as electronics have begun to fill up landfills at an increasing rate. Electronics such as phones and computers consists of several toxins that can spill out, and negatively damage the environment. What is notable is that the technology and material that make up the electronics are valuable, and companies have tried to recover them from landfills or consumers, but will discard unsafely. E-Recycling was considered the answer, but has not yielded the results thanks to international laws, and difficulties of getting workers to extract the valuable materials. Most of the e-waste gets exported, where workers work in unbearable conditions, and breathe in heavy toxins.

Network effects are considered network externalities that are the effect that a user of a service or goods has on the value of the product or service to other people. Take for example, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg the founder has relied on this concept because so many college students flocked to Facebook in the early days and it exploded. So now everyone, including businesses has to have a Facebook Page to communicate. Same with the popularity of Twitter, Vine, and Instagram. EBay and Amazon are another example, where many people started to turn to EBay to make money, or to get concert tickets, clothes, and other items. People buy IPhones, and other Apple products because it is what majority people are doing. Apple uses this concept to advantage, so that people care about having one product to fit in over another.

Forbes wrote an article on E-waste that details a solution to the problem. In their solution to the problem, people should recycle more and send it abroad. Recycling is a profitable business. When the waste is exported, we can uses low cost labor that can be safe and better for the people and the environment. In order for e-waste to be safely disposed, we must set up a deposit system so that end of life equipment is returned, and export waste to be processed.