It can also make sense to buy old/used versions of consumer products. For example: My parents have a washer & dryer from the mid 90s. They occasionally get a new belt, but besides that there's not much that can go wrong with them.

If you're looking at buying used stuff, it's important to research common failures for that specific product and what can be done to fix them. As long as it's popular enough that parts still exist, you should be good to go. You do pay a cost in terms of time, so it's important to pick your battles.

The most annoying thing to me is government-mandated smart devices. For example: In Washington state, all new water heaters must have a feature that causes them to reduce the water temperature if the grid is experiencing high demand.[1] There are no exemptions for off-grid installations. Everyone ends up with a more expensive, less reliable water heater. In my case I found a contractor who was willing to install a dumb water heater, but not everyone is as savvy. The state also mandates that new thermostats be programmable (no more simple bimetal thermostats), which is another electronic part that can fail.[2] Ideally governments would create incentives to encourage more efficient energy usage (such taxes & subsidies), but not require or ban specific solutions.

1. https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=51-11C-40414

2. https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=51-11R-40310

Part of me wonders if things are like this because the masses have been trained to see their abuse as a good thing, in a similar way to how the american worker sees themselves not as exploited but as a temporarily restrained exploiter

They are also likely to cost more and aren't normally directly available to regular customers, like you need either a business license of some sort and to contact a representative.