Digital pollution: what are the devices that pollute the most in our homes?

We pollute when we watch a series, when we send an email and even when we like the photo of a person we like on Instagram. And to have all our digital objects at home, we extract metals, we do lots of things that pollute.

It's hard to live without digital. Nevertheless, it is true that we can also sometimes take moderating actions that will have an impact on the environment. Concretely, what pollutes the most in my house, between a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone?

"The size of the device will have a big impact. Not all of them consume the same energy. For example, a laptop is designed to be optimized to the maximum so that its battery lasts as long as possible. It will therefore consume less than a fixed computer", explains Florence Clément, Public Information Officer at ADEME (Agency for the Environment and Energy Management).

"A mobile phone also consumes less power than a laptop computer. The more TVs you have, the more electricity it consumes. And the more applications you install on your phone, the more notifications you receive and the more you increase its digital pollution. So you have to "uninstall the applications you don't really need" and "don't put your GPS if you don't really need it".

"In the same way, from time to time, we can turn off certain objects when we are at home. For example, being on Wi-Fi all the time rather than 4G. Things like that already allow us to gain on the consumption of the device", sums up Florence Clément.

Remember to check the repairability index of the devices

To avoid digital pollution, "it's up to everyone to act", sums up Florence Clément. "We, as consumers, really have a choice. We can already choose to keep our devices as long as possible. For example, keeping a computer for four years rather than two years already reduces environmental impact by 50%", continues -she.

"Now, manufacturers, too, can reduce environmental impacts by allowing all this equipment to last as long as possible, thus making it more easily repairable, for example, whether computers or mobile phones", recommends Florence Clement.

"Besides, there is a repairability index on cell phones, on computers and even on televisions which actually allows you to know if the device is going to be easy or not to repair. So there you have it, this note which is on 10 like at school, the closer to 10, the more the device is considered easily repairable", she concludes.