Somebody: The problem is that the turnover of new consumer goods is what many people find so appealing about contemporary society. The zero life-span of consumer goods is part of their draw. Just as the gambler gets a hit of dopamine each time they go for another round on the slots, a tech addict buys a gizmo and immediately goes online to read about new versions and competitors which are already making it obsolete because it's exciting. For example, Apple products aren't just a religion, they're a substitute for a pop culture. An iPod or iPad isn't so much a conduit for media consumption, it is the media to be consumed itself. Kids today are at least as excited and fascinated by new mobile devices as they are by new rock bands and hip hop artists.
We need a socialism that will offer the masses the spectacle, entertainment, and consumerism of capitalism without the exploitation, inequality, and class system. On that score, notice how Hugo Chavez, aside from not nationalizing the means of production by a long shot, has also not just continued but reinforced consumerism in Venezuela, by for instance, subsidizing gasoline so people can drive their own cars while having enough money to go to shopping malls. Frankly, as soon as socialism lost faith that it could offer a mass consumption society, the writing was on the wall. Francis Spufford's new book "Red Plenty" on the Soviet Union in the late 50's and early 60's is excellent on this subject. I get the sense that even Marxists today do not believe that socialism can provide the bright horizons of technology and ever-rising living standards envisioned even in Khruschev's staid bureaucratic state - although I could be wrong. I hope I am.