The Right to Repair Movement has been pushing for legislation that forces companies to give consumers more options to repair their own devices.

I come bearing good news, There's been actual improvements in the

situation. It's Monday, June 3rd and you're listening to Science Friday.

I'm Cyphra, producer D. Peter Schmidt. If you have a problem with your phone, like a bad battery or a broken screen, you might decide to just buy a new phone completely because manufacturers often make repairing those devices

yourself extraordinarily difficult or expensive. But for years now the right to

repair movement in the US has been trying to provide consumers with more options

to fix the products they actually own,

instead of having to go through the manufacturer to fix it for them.

And they've had recent success in some state legislatures.

Here's Gestos Arielam Ross with more.

Here to break down recent developments in the Right to Repair Movement is Jason Kebler, co-host of the

404 media podcast, where he covers a number of issues in tech including right to repair.

Jason, welcome back to Science Friday.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Thanks for being here.

How would you define right to repair?

Well, I think it's this very American idea that when you buy something, you own it and you should have the ability to fix it if it breaks.

The example that right to Repair Advocates often talk about is

trucks and cars. It's like you can change your own oil, you can change your own

brakes and that should apply to your laptop to your

refrigerator to your phone. If the screen breaks you should be able to fix it but

for years it's been pretty difficult to do that.

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