It's the ability to alter and edit the machine. That's the difference. iPads/phones are ready made experiences with almost 0 meaningful control. Desktop OS meanwhile give a level of control that can be empowering. If you gave the same level of control to a phone/iPad OS you'd get better results.

March 24, 2026 - 11:53 UTC

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"Here's your first phone! It's a rooted Android running a custom OS. Good luck! I've sent you links to the relevant XDA, Reddit, and Git communities."
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Wait, hang on, I take that back, firefox and ad blockers. That's the first thing to teach them. Makes a world of difference and it's super easy to understand.
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I'm talking about legislation to require the big boys to give you control over things that you own, but that's a long term goal.
And I know you're joking but teaching a kid to navigate online tech spaces is unironically a good skill. Start them off with the basics though, Minecraft mods and such.
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