Google's new developer verification requirements starting September 2026 will force ALL Android app developers to register with Google - even those avoiding the Play Store entirely. F-Droid, the tr...
These companies and their enshittification have kinda killed the broader concept of phones in my mind.
What is my phone? It’s my worst computer, proprietary and closed, and which I have been actively avoiding using all year long in order to improve my mental health. It’s a tool that makes it easier to exist in modern society, not something that enhances my quality of life.
So I’m not thinking about whether I need iMessage vs Android openness like I might have a decade ago. I’m sitting here wondering if I even need a phone number in the first place! But, even with some wonderful Linux phone device that’s like a 6" laptop with a touch screen and LTE/5G, I guess you’d still just have a number associated with your service.
I think this is an exaggeration. Smartphones are one of the greatest inventions in human history, the problem is corporate control, the actual device is amazing.
I have a smartphone, just like there is no more need for a dedicated music player and a portable game console, I can play games and music on this as much as I want. A question popped into my head? I can look it up immediately. Love reading books? You now have effectively infinite space for them and don’t need to carry them around, trying to make sure they don’t get damaged. Want to watch a movie or a series? You got it. You even used to be able use it as a VR viewer! How cool is that?
If you suffered from social media addiction and just can’t use the device without risking a relapse I can sympathize with that. But that’s big tech’s fault, nothing necessitates smartphones being that way apart from corporate desire for infinite wealth.
Most of the world will not have access to phones that put freedom first, but if you have access to them they can remind you how amazing these things actually are.
These companies and their enshittification have kinda killed the broader concept of phones in my mind.
What is my phone? It’s my worst computer, proprietary and closed, and which I have been actively avoiding using all year long in order to improve my mental health. It’s a tool that makes it easier to exist in modern society, not something that enhances my quality of life.
So I’m not thinking about whether I need iMessage vs Android openness like I might have a decade ago. I’m sitting here wondering if I even need a phone number in the first place! But, even with some wonderful Linux phone device that’s like a 6" laptop with a touch screen and LTE/5G, I guess you’d still just have a number associated with your service.
I think this is an exaggeration. Smartphones are one of the greatest inventions in human history, the problem is corporate control, the actual device is amazing.
I have a smartphone, just like there is no more need for a dedicated music player and a portable game console, I can play games and music on this as much as I want. A question popped into my head? I can look it up immediately. Love reading books? You now have effectively infinite space for them and don’t need to carry them around, trying to make sure they don’t get damaged. Want to watch a movie or a series? You got it. You even used to be able use it as a VR viewer! How cool is that?
If you suffered from social media addiction and just can’t use the device without risking a relapse I can sympathize with that. But that’s big tech’s fault, nothing necessitates smartphones being that way apart from corporate desire for infinite wealth.
Most of the world will not have access to phones that put freedom first, but if you have access to them they can remind you how amazing these things actually are.
I have actually made comments very similar to yours. Basically how phones are a technological marvel but are ruined by greed.