People often ask me about donating their old computers and tablets to those
in need, like organisations supporting refugees. At first, this sounds like
an obvious and charitable thing to do.
But there’s a reason we stop using our old devices: they’re slow,
incompatible, and sometimes no longer safe.
A gift or a burden?
I tend to say, as a general rule, that if a computer is more than about
five years old then a recipient may well find it more of a liability than a
useful gift. For tablets and phones, the useful lifespan varies greatly
between manufacturers.
As an example, many people will buy a new PC when
Windows 10 goes out of support
in October 2025, because they understand there’ll be no more
software updates so their security and
privacy could be at risk. It would be unfair to pass on this risk to someone
else.
Someone else’s problem
This giving of a liability is not without precedent. Around the beginning
of the century, it was realised that the millions of old computers shipped
from developed to developing countries were largely junk. Big, heavy, slow
machines – containing substances toxic to humans and harmful to the
environment – were conveniently transported away from the West, and the
burden of dealing with this waste was put upon nations far less capable of
carrying it.
I’m happy to advice
If you’re in Oxfordshire and have an old computer, tablet or phone you’d
like to donate, please contact me and I’ll help you
determine its age and specification.
If I believe it could make a truly useful gift, I’ll help you prepare it
for that purpose. It’s important to securely erase your data, for
example.
But don’t be surprised if I suggest it goes to the recycling centre
instead.