In their daily use of smartphones, tablets and the like, the typical young person in Switzerland pollutes the environment with around 1100 environmental impact points. This is roughly equivalent to the environmental impact of travelling 3.2 kilometres by car, eating a hamburger or buying two paperback books. The method used to calculate environmental impact considers a broad spectrum of aspects such as resource scarcity and emissions, and includes the manufacture, use and disposal of the device. «Producing and disposing of electronic devices consumes a large amount of resources and energy,» says ZHAW researcher Regula Keller from the Institute of Natural Resource Sciences. Device ownership therefore has a much greater impact on the environment than chatting or surfing the internet on a daily basis. Device ownership accounts for more than three quarters (77 per cent) of the total environmental impact, while data transfer and power consumption account for only 24 per cent. This includes both the devices owned by the young people themselves and their share of devices owned by their families. Half of the environmental impact can be attributed to televisions, since almost all families (96 per cent) and almost one in three young people own one, and they consume more resources than smaller devices. Moreover, high image resolution involves huge data transfer in data centres and consumes a corresponding amount of power. Regardless of which device is used, watching videos is the most energy-intensive use because of the large amount of data involved.

The more frequently new devices are purchased, the greater the negative impact on the environment. Based on their findings, the ZHAW researchers, the climate protection organisation myblueplanet and the Spinas Civil Voices agency tested new ways of encouraging young people to treat their smartphones in a more environmentally conscious way. An awareness campaign encouraged them to make a public commitment to using their mobile phones for at least three years. To attract their attention, a fictional crowdfunding campaign was launched for the most durable mobile phone ever: the ugPhone. Although this is absolutely resistant and therefore environmentally friendly, it is also so impractical that using it would be a punishment for young people. «With this humorous approach we want to encourage young people to use their own mobile phones for as long as possible so that the totally impractical ugPhone never becomes reality,» explains ZHAW researcher Urs Müller. The campaign has been spread primarily via social media with the support of Swiss influencers.