i can get behind that from the perspective that people just willingly gave up their privacy for convenience, then their privacy was slowly eroded further while the convenience became more and more dubious. having a computer in my pocket is nice, but its honestly barely functional as one these days with how locked down they are and how they force you to install an app for every minor thing...

Cellphones as a whole or smartphones specifically, given the attention economy and other predatory bullshit that arose subsequently?

everything is cool until it becomes mandatory

Cell phones are good and extremely useful. Smart phones might have been a mistake...

I gotta say that it's super handy to have a pocket computer with instant connectivity.

I don't think no phones would have changed the course we heading

I think the technology was never really the problem, it's the monetization. There should've been strict data protections from the start and ads should've been banned a century ago. Then companies couldn't get users addicted on 'free' products making money by secretly selling their data. It would've meant having to provide a real service to users they'd be willing to pay for. This would disincentivize enshittification because a worse product would actually result in customers leaving for competitors.

I would be lost (pun intended) without the map on my phone, but maybe an alternative could have taken off.