It is unfair. A close friend of mine has brain damage, is low income, and he can't really use a smart phone. He just has a simple flip phone and it's all he has. It has been isolating for him with working and managing his life.

Tell your friend what good company he is in, as one of many, many of us, who do not fit a fleeting mythical stereotype. There are hundreds of reasons why people can not or will not use smartphones. Eyesight. Dexterity. Poverty. Location tracking by hostiles. Privacy. Poor memory. Security needs. Environmental concerns...

We should not play the victims. Being without one of those cursed things is a blessing. We get good mental health. We get focus and calm. We get a profound sense of freedom, time to think, to create, to talk to real people, to see the world go by. We learn to enjoy being bored. We interact with other real people. We willingly pay more for freedom and privacy.

What we lose is being tied up in pointless abusive machinations of an already dying "online" culture, one that is over-extended, fragile, dysfunctional, and we dodge much of the abusive enshitified corporate hell that every living being now hates.

Please, big-up your friend instead of painting him as a victim.