Pockets at least you can expand, I do it on all my clothing.

XMPP

I don’t think it is better at all. Unlike Discord, which might allow you to exist without a phone number, Telegram requires it right upfront. And it removed the ability to register from desktop, at least without spinning up an Android VM.

I’d prefer Mumble for voice chat when gaming.

…And in addition, Discord itself can randomly nuke your account by asking for a phone number.

Servers can be hosted by anyone; there is usually no account needed to join the chat; it would not randomly demand a phone number or an ID; it does not get pissed over people not using a very specific piece of bloated spyware… So nope, not against.

I don’t think Amazon ecosystem requires less effort. Not only does it require paying (with a card!) for each book, but I don’t even know if it would work on non-Kindle devices.

I don’t like this binary choice between “not owning things” vs. “owning them on physical media”. You can own things in digital format, y’know? All media I have on my drives is also not tied to some service since it’s all DRM-less. I did buy some things on Steam, but for each such game I have a DRM-less version that I do truly own. And a stash of external drives takes up way less space than CDs and is way more convenient to use.

Especially since some physical media also has bullshit like DRM.

Hey, femboys can serve as a transition between the phase of liking women towards having a boyfriend :)

5 to 10 minutes is a bit too short for comfort tbh. If the content is good, the joy is slightly poisoned by the fact that there was so little of it. IMO the comfortable video length is 30 to 50 minutes, which is a far more enjoyable experience (with 1-2 hours if it’s a podcast).

Newpipe doesn’t display them at all, and is much lighter than revanced.

Gen Z here, I actually had the exact opposite problem. I don’t really use a smartphone now, but when I did use it daily, while I could get into some article rabbitholes, it was never to a painful extent. Probably because the phone is small and not at all comfortable to interact with long-term. But when I am on the laptop - I often lose track of time spent on IRC, youtube and newsfeeds. I now try to strictly limit the time to only what’s needed (unless IRC has a conversation that is really relevant for me), and download most articles onto an E-reader for a less painful experience.

I am in a different part of the world, and what you are saying is also true here for the older generation, while the younger one has no escape from Telegram.