Can we get back to reliable, analog devices that aren't smart and don't spy on you instead?
About the industrial production of such analog objects, I have the intuition (maybe I’m wrong) that we lost the knowledge of how to build complex mechanical objects at scale. Those objects used to require a huge design work where now, all you have to do is a plastic case enclosing a chip and some software developers to bring it to life.
Maybe sewing machines? Typewriters? Linotype machines?
I admit that it's all a mixed bag. Common use of microcontrollers allows more cleverly designed electric hand drills at lower cost, but they are mechanically more poorly made than in days of yore.
Cars strike me as having the same problem, partly in the ability to design with computers, not just having a computer in the loop. Major components (transmissions, rear ends, etc.) used to be built in a much more beefy way partly because they were just guessing.
Luckily we are all free agents. We can buy old or we can buy new.
And this time round, the record can be made in a digital format, so we won't lose it for future generations.
from top of my head some superior analog devices:
* kitchen/body scale * oven * radio * light switch * thermostat
granted, it's mostly not per se because they are digital but that their UI is now a touchscreen with input lag and without any tactile response.
And I really can't remember any even though I grew up with them, weird huh.
Digital scales are smaller, lighter, more reliable. Radios and thermostats, too (those bimetal plates analog ones use are pretty bad).
Touch screens... I hate them but they're reliable, moreso than hardware buttons if not stressed beyond specs.
I've never used digital light switches, analog are great.
Ovens, yeah, I have a really old one that just won't die, I've worked on hundreds of them and it's always some electronics fault (high heat and poor cooling will kill a lot of components).
Good examples, thanks.
I will never miss carburetors and non-hydraulic clutches and brakes (shudder) though :D
Mechanical buttons: sure, if you're talking about those junky, flat momentary push-buttons then yeah - they will go out of service after a number of presses. But, a proper mechanical push-button or radio button, such as on old radios and on industrial machinery? Basically indestructible. They could likely last a century, and if they go bad, you can replace them because they are generally possible to service.