It is readily apparent that there is a continuing shift from traditional media to digital media. The annual increase in consumer spend is currently well into double digits and by 2014 entertainment and media spending growth may well reach 33%.
The growth in mobile broadband connectivity and use of wireless devices is fuelling this increasing demand. Nowhere is this more eveident than in the expanding use of smartphones. By the end of the decade there could be as many as 50 billion mobile connections earthwide and 4 out of 5 people could be using mobile devices to access the Internet. At the moment there are estimated to be over 500 million 3G subscriptions globally and mobile subscriptions are being added at the rate of 2 million per day.
At these rates of growth we are headed for a situation where the number of mobile devices in seven years time could outnumber the population of the Earth by a factor of a thousand to one. This level of digital media consumerism really does demand of us a greater awareness of how our insatiable appetite for these devices impacts on the planet. We particularly need to familiarise ourselves with the product lifecycle of the average mobile phone.
We are not helped to do so by the lack of reliable data to determine how our consumption of digital media products impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and electronic waste generation. Our personal actions may have a minor impact when taken in isolation. Take our buying decisions and how we subsequently dispose of our mobile phones, such as to whom we choose to sell them. However, the cumulative impact of billions of such decisions and transactions is enormous and must be analysed and then managed.