A scandalous 13 minutes, that's how long a drilling machine is used on average before it's thrown away. There are good reasons for sharing it when we don't need it.
Y ou might think it's nothing new. At least at first glance. If you really think about it, though, people have always shared with each other. But what is happening online today has taken on entirely new dimensions: the sharing economy, a trend with beneficial side effects. The JustPark app is a great example of how practical, simple and brilliant sharing can be. Everyone knows how frustrating it can be to find a parking space in the city center. And it can get even more frustrating every time you drive past an empty private space. Thanks to this smartphone app, people who live in the city center and don't use their parking space during the day can rent out that space at an hourly rate and earn some money on the side as well. Much to the delight of people looking for parking.
What goes for parking spaces also goes for many of the other items we use every day. We use most of these things only around once a month on average: drills, suitcases, lawnmowers. Consumption too often becomes a one-way street as a result. We buy things, use them (or not) and then dispose of them without even having come close to exhausting their full potential and adding to huge mountains of garbage. Sharing creates a sensible, long-lasting cycle.
Online offers in Germany such as nebenan.de and apps such as WirNachbarn help people free themselves from a society dedicated to consumption and disposable goods. By using these platforms, you become part of a neighborhood sharing community. Look for or offer home movie evenings, juicers or electric drills Loaning things instead of storing them in the closet, actions like these also conserve resources, addressing one of the largest global challenges we currently face. And to be honest, why spend all that money for a drill when you can borrow it for a "small fee" from your neighbor?
80% of the household appliances are used only once a month
But smart sharing also comes with side effects – beneficial side effects. We've always shared offline with family, friends and neighbors. But what if your family and friends live far away and you don't know or want to bother your neighbors. Thanks to the Internet, we can connect with each other, even with people we didn't know before. By sharing things, we not only conserve resources, we also engage in human encounters. It also gives people access to goods and services who may not have had access to those things before.
The only thing you need is fast, reliable Internet. And that is where Deutsche Telekom comes into play. We invest around 4 billion euros every year in network expansion in Germany alone. This creates the basis for sharing platforms – fast, reliable and up-to-date.
If you think about the fact that there are around 100 million cell phones just sitting around in drawers in Germany, that a car stands around unused 23 hours on average a day, that we barely wear half of the 5.4 billion articles of clothing in our closets and that a drill is only used for 13 minutes on average during its entire life cycle, we are still not sharing enough. When you share, you conserve valuable resources! And if we meet new people in the process, well, that's a beneficial side effect. We don't just share with each other, we start talking to each other again.