I'm a pinephone early adopter so you don't have to sell me on that. But I also know that such things are not viable for mass market. Pinephone works for me because I am technically savvy and value ownership of my device more than ease of use.
But time and time again we've seen that the market as a whole will go for whatever has the lowest friction. That's the singular most important factor. Whatever lets people do that thing quickest and easiest will usually win out.
So any serious and realistic discussion has to keep that in mind. This is why consumer protection laws are important. Because "people" aren't going to necessarily look out for their own long term best interests. And will choose the option that is easy today but will screw you down the road.
You're right. Thinking "people create problems for themselves" is egoistical, most people are not educated to see beyond ads, the ones who are, most don't care. The deepest problem with such behavior is that this influences industry to simply kill any support to less common options and such group of users (which probably include we two) won't get any support from major vendors.
Consumer protection laws are not only important even for those who don't care about them. They are important specially because there are so many people who don't care about them.
But time and time again we've seen that the market as a whole will go for whatever has the lowest friction. That's the singular most important factor. Whatever lets people do that thing quickest and easiest will usually win out.
So any serious and realistic discussion has to keep that in mind. This is why consumer protection laws are important. Because "people" aren't going to necessarily look out for their own long term best interests. And will choose the option that is easy today but will screw you down the road.