I will never understand how sitting next to each other in silence for a couple of hours staring at a screen became something we commonly do with friends in the first place. It’s probably the most antisocial group activity I could think of.

They probably do use Chinese made parts though.

I’d argue that this is just a continuation of billionaires buying up the media.

I think it does too, but the problem with nostalgia is that you forget about all the shitty parts and just remember the good bits. Tumblr is still owned by big tech oligarchs even if it is smaller than the other platforms, and is still vulnerable to the kind of enshittification that the fediverse is more insulated against. Enshittification actually came for Tumblr long ago but it looks positively tame in comparison with other platforms.

Not for phones though.

The modern internet is literally unusable without ad blockers.