My Nokia Phone

My Nokia Phone. 

Is pretty much dead.

Cold to the touch,

its purple glistens

nostalgically

Snake games and 

manual keyboards aside

I hope 

it rests in peace and

in the right lands,

QWERTY pad and all

when I recycle it

in the green can

Nokia power

I want to recycle it but before doing so, I thought I'd sketch it to keep a visual copy as a memento (Yeah why not just take a photo right - painters think in less economical, interesting ways). I also took a photo so you can see the differences between the painted image and the digital picture.

The latter is of course, more accurate the first, but there are smudge marks where the water hit the ink of a G2 pen, causing slight diffusing between the black and the purple. The watercolor-version of my Nokia X3 looks way more run-down than in the photograph which is pretty ironic? Given that we can paint objects with more subjectivity in colour and tone to make things look brighter and more beautiful than they originally are. However, we can also do the opposite and I like what the effects are. My phone looks more rustic, and more toxic. 

I am sad to see my Nokia phone go and am even guiltier of writing the ending line of the above but it is a fact: our phones and devices are full of toxic - especially the ones left behind. How lethal they are, would depend on how they are handled and that's the prevalent issue in today's digital world. Manufacturing takes up alot of resources but so does the recycling of used e-wastes that emerge from the bottom end, and the sad reality is that while many people are actively recycling alot of it gets dumped in areas with lax regulations for human rights and living conditions. Take the swamps of melted plastic, metal and toxins at Agbogbloshie, for instance. 

I hope the laws get tighter in areas around the world so that things get better for the people having to deal with these e-waste dumpsites. 

For now, as consumers perhaps the best ways for us to contribute is to take care of our devices so that they can last longer, buy less or recycle right. Though the last really depends on where we are and what organisations do to the collected e-waste. In my country, it seems to be on the positive side (i.e. collected recycled e-waste is recycled locally, though the recycling scene could still be improved (more helping hands for example).

I love my Nokia phone and its old perks - take the pixel snake game for instance, but there are some things inside it that aren't so lovable.

May our devices rest in peace - in the right lands.