We all try to maximize the life of our cell phones as the industry around us keeps pumping out new models every few months it seems. As much as we would like to stay on top of new technology, many of us can not afford to do so when new phones coming out can cost upwards of a month of a rent. To be swapping out old phones for new ones, with how quickly they are released, is almost a part time job in itself. There are a few good reasons to upgrade your phone, especially if you’ve had the same one since high school, but for the most part you are better off getting your phone repaired if something goes wrong than to just toss it in the trash and get a new one.

Aside from the cost of new technology are the environmentally impacts that our phones have when they end up in the landfill. Many precious materials are mined from the earth and put into our phones and are not easily recyclable. If ‘going green’ is something that is important to you, you will really want to maximize the life of your phone. There are plenty of ‘phone repair services’ in most areas, a wide variety of them are people doing this on the side out of a small office building. You are not only supporting a small business by having your phone repaired, but you are also doing your own community a service by putting more money into it rather than the corporate greed machine.

The cost of a repair is going to be well under what the price of a new device is. It will also save you the hassle of having to transfer all your information to a new phone as well as get used to the idiosyncrasies of that device. Whether it’s a cracked screen, a faulty input, or software issues, there are many trained repair people who are available to help you out. Working within their static and dust free environments, they have the tools and expertise to crack open your phone and with surgical precision, figure out the issue at hand and resolve it. Many issues that we have with our phones can be fixed by repair shops and are not the end-all be-all for our phones life. Even such things as battery drain or laggy response time can be helped with the intuitive advice of your repair person. Professional phone repair is the way to go until you have exhausted all options or dropped your phone overboard where it lay at the bottom of the sea for weeks until you retrieved it. Not all issues can be fixed, though it’s better to inquire first about repairs before heading straight to the apple store. When our cars start acting funny we nearly always take it to a mechanic for a look over rather than drive it straight to the dump (unless that funny business is coming from the backseat, in which case, strap those kids into car seats!). Let’s do the same with our phones! Save yourself the money and the landfill the hassle of breaking down your phone, by choosing repair over repurchase.