Has your phone or computer started to feel sluggish lately? You’re not alone. As the years pass, our devices tend to slow down a bit. The tech giants would love us to assume it’s all in our heads and upgrade to their latest shiny devices.
But don’t be too quick to upgrade—there’s usually more to the story.
1 Operating System Updates and Increased Resource Requirements
When you first unbox a phone, laptop, or other gadget, everything runs smoothly. The operating system is perfectly optimized for that hardware. But over time, tech companies release new models with better processors, more memory, fancier cameras, you name it. So operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android get updated to take advantage of those upgrades, which is great for newer devices but can leave older ones struggling to keep up.
Mobile devices feel this the most, as phone manufacturers seem to crank out new models every year. While they focus on the latest phones, older ones don’t always get software updates tailored just for their specs. Updates may demand resources they just don’t have, and before you know it, your once lightning-fast phone seems slower.
iPhones have it a bit better with Apple’s long support cycles. However, even Apple phones may eventually struggle with the newest iOS versions as the software outgrows the aging hardware under the hood over the years.
Luckily, there are some things you can try to resuscitate a sluggish device. Upgrading the RAM or storage can give PCs a new lease on performance speed. You can also skip non-critical updates if you think certain ones would bog things down. For truly outdated devices, a lightweight Linux distro for a PC or a custom Android ROM may run better than the standard ones.
2 Your Storage Space Is More Cluttered
It’s easy to download apps on a whim just to try them out but then forget all about them. The problem is those unused apps take up space on your phone, with some running in the background and using your phone’s resources even when you’re not using them. To make matters worse, bloatware that comes pre-installed (and can be tough to remove) also contributes to the mess. App updates also contribute to junking up your storage over the long run. As developers add new features and tweak old ones, app sizes tend to inflate over time. While the updates usually improve things, they also use more storage and potentially system resources.
In addition, modern high-end smartphones, with their fancy cameras capable of capturing footage in crisp 4K, exacerbate the issue. Just one minute of a 4K video could eat up gigabytes in no time, and that’s without considering all your other files.
When your storage gets close to full, it starts to cause problems. The system has a harder time finding empty spaces to save new stuff, which leads to fragmentation that bogs everything down. You might notice apps taking longer to open or generally slower performance.
Clearing cached app data is one way to free up room and speed things back up. It’s also worth reviewing which apps you still actually use. If you haven’t opened something in ages, maybe it’s time to uninstall it. If it’s still running slow after that, a factory reset will wipe it completely clean and could help resolve performance issues from all the built-up junk. You can also keep large files like photos and videos in the cloud or an external drive instead of internal storage.
3 Your Expectations Change as Technology Advances
The crazy pace of tech advances means we always see newer, faster devices and more powerful apps. This constant exposure can subtly shift what we consider “quick” or “smooth.” Something that blew us away two years ago might feel kind of laggy now, not because your phone got slower but because your frame of reference changed with all the newer stuff.
I think all the hype from tech companies doesn’t help, either. They’re always talking about the newest, fastest thing. This makes any little stutter or delay way more noticeable, even if it didn’t bother you before. A brief stutter or app loading you didn’t care about before now really sticks out.
To combat this perception, it’s good to check in on how your device is doing its core functions. Is it still handling what you need it to? Or are the slowdowns hindering you versus being a little annoyed and piled on by raised expectations? Resetting your perspective can stop you from feeling frustrated over normal performance.
4 Planned Obsolescence Might Be Influencing Your Device’s Performance
The idea of planned obsolescence has existed since the early 1900s. Basically, it means tech companies design products with limited lifespans, either through technical limitations or constantly coming out with “new and improved” versions, so the old ones seem outdated.
With electronics like phones, planned obsolescence can happen in a few ways. One is making devices hard or expensive to repair, so it’s easier just to replace them when something goes wrong. Another is using marketing to make older devices feel lame compared to the latest releases, even if the old ones still work fine.
If you want to fight back against planned obsolescence, we’ve got some practical tips that could help. The suggestions are easy things you can do to make the stuff you buy last longer before you feel pressured into an unnecessary upgrade or purchase.
5 Your Device Might Be Infested With Malware
These days, sneaky malware tries to be stealthy instead of attention-seeking. Gone are the flashy screens and instant crashes of old. Modern malware authors know they need to fly under the radar to maximize their shady profits. So, they design their creations to do their dirty work quietly in the background, just barely using enough resources to stay hidden while still achieving their naughty aims. These sneaky background tasks slowly eat away at your device’s speed. You may not notice the change day to day, but over months or years, it becomes noticeable that things aren’t as quick as they used to be.
Some devious malware even targets the startup process. By adding themselves to boot files, they automatically launch every time you turn on your device, causing longer boot times and a sluggish feel from the get-go.
In this case, you should perform regular malware scans using reputable antivirus software. Also, pay attention to how your device acts over time. Noticeably slower performance, sudden data use increases, weird pop-ups, or faster battery drain could all be signs that malware has infected your system.
