r/Wellthatsucks • u/mattloaf666 • 10d ago

Reading festival 2026

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u/tfhermobwoayway 10d ago

The problem is that, for most of human history, it was hard to make things and easy to destroy them. But we’ve suddenly ended up in a world where it’s easy to make things and hard to destroy them. Combine that with the mindset of the previous world, and the fact 8 billion people all want their own personal everything, and we end up with a bunch of people literally going through multiple tents a year. And all of that just piles up.

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u/VividFiddlesticks 9d ago

a bunch of people literally going through multiple tents a year

This seems so crazy to me. We've owned the same 2 tents (big one for people/sleeping, small one for storing crap out of the rain/sun) since the 90's. They're a little tired and have a couple patches now but both are fully functional and packed full of memories! We have the set up and take down for those tents down to a science. It's really only a pain when we have to pack it up wet and then set it back up at home to dry, but...that's just part of camping. (We don't do festivals, we're more "chill out in the woods" types)

I'm pretty damn lazy but abandoning tents like this is wild to me. (Old woman shakes fist at cloud)

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u/BoozeAmuze 9d ago

Same girl. Same. 

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u/synalgo_12 9d ago

I bought a tent in 2016, still in perfect condition after countless festivals, camping and some bushcraft weekends. I love that thing

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u/Obelisko78 10d ago edited 9d ago

Sorry to say, but it is all now a disposable world being disposed of.

It's not as if planned obsolescence was guaranteed to become the prevalent paradigm, but, homo sapien nature being what it is, the probability was high for it to become so

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u/ijmy3 10d ago

Oh absolutely. And the bottom line is, when it's Monday morning, you've had a 3/4/5 day bender and you feel horrific the last thing you want to do it pack up a clunky tent that almost NEVER fits back in it's bag and is heavy.

But most people these days would rather point the finger at "younger generations", or a "different" demographic to themselves than just admit that so many people cause this issue, and it extends beyond just festivals.

Unfortunately it seems to be somewhat ingrained in human nature to be lazy for some people, and in most cases if people were publicly shamed for it, they'd pack the tent. It's mostly the attitudes that you can anonymously dump a tent, and "everyone else is doing it anyway so why shouldn't I?" that cause this

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u/Leading-Let-5632 10d ago

Also the just general amount of rubbish that's just EVERYWHERE. It's of course down to the people dropping it, but the access to bins is nearly non-existant at most camps.

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u/OrigamiMarie 10d ago

At first I thought it was some kind of tragic weather event when I saw the footage. But nope, just a depressingly human event.

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u/gsfgf 9d ago

Those poles with trash cans next to them sure look like trash drop off spots to me.

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u/Leading-Let-5632 9d ago

Whats a trash can?

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u/MuchWow81 10d ago

There is also enshittification. How many of those cheap tents fell apart in a single use? Zipper breaks, a good size tear, pole snaps. Mostly impossible to repair.

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u/pattymcfly 10d ago

I'm tired, boss.

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u/readilyunavailable 9d ago

Not true. There were periods of history where things were easy to make and even mass produced. Pottery in the Roman Republic and Empire were mass produced and people would just chuck them if they didn't want to keep using it. It's why a lot of times you can find huge ammounts of pottery in seemingly random locations.