I keep trying to do exactly that, the majority of my time wasted on my phone is spent in Chrome. Almost every other app I have left is a valuable unix-esque utility, like weather, radar, notes, chat, etc.
There also appears to be satisfaction in cultivating new talent and watching it grow. A friend of mine is at his most excited and animated when he is talking about the new ways his reports have grown as engineers, not when he's talking about this or that technology.
You like your laptop because it makes your life better. That makes me happy. But then you tell me the "The System" is evil, and makes nothing good, etc- it's not only hypocritical, but it stings just a little, as I am a member of the very system making your laptop.
I don't want thanks, I just don't want to be told I'm evil at the same time as you enjoy the fruits of my labor.
No, the ones that irk me are specifically the people who make a big show about everything that's wrong with modern life and capitalism and such, and how much better it is to live off the land free of the corrupting influences society, and yet don't see how much they still depend on "The System" they profess to hate so much.
The ones in this piece don't particularly seem to be that type, I suppose, so maybe it's not relevant.
There is definitely an irony to people who make a show of disconnecting, but do so on the largess of society. In this piece, the guy who gets free electricity and shelter from his friend's shed. Or what I used to run into frequently, the rebel wanderer who eschews The System and couch surfs at the houses of his office worker friends.
I don't mind people who want to disconnect, but when you've got a campstove, a phone, a laptop, photovoltaic panels, a car... you're still enjoying the fruits of progress & society with the rest of us.
It's not just about effort, but time as well. "Turnkey" convenience gives you time to spend on other things. For example, the more time I spend surviving on the basics, the less time I can invest in the charity I volunteer with.
I figure what's happening is the governments around the world have started picking up people who are excited about open source and GitHub, as those people grow old enough to work in government. It wasn't long ago that GitHub was (in my eyes) mostly popular with early-twenties and younger, a demographic that doesn't usually work in government! But they grow older, some get hired in government, and they bring their enthusiasm with them.