Phone Bad
We could get into how cell phones themselves have been bad for society as a whole but this article isn't about that. This will be about my problems with the physical devices and the software on them. I mostly have experience with the iPhone and will mainly be talking about that but other companies love to copy Apple on stupid stuff so a lot of stuff will apply to them also.
Headphone Jack Removal
The headphone jack removal alone could be why I hate modern cell phones but this is the just the main reason. If I want to use headphone audio for anything, I always use the headset I use for gaming and the fact that I have to use some piece of crap dongle to use it on my phone still pisses me off. Apple originally removed the headphone jack to sell their overpriced tech fashionware and then all the other companies copied Apple and now here we are today with me writing this article mainly due to this one decision. When it comes to audio, if I'm using headphones, I only use wired over-ear headphones, I can't stand in-ear headphones and the fact that Apple and so many people are obsessed with the AirPods just ruins the audio accessibility for people like me. Regarding AirPods themselves, my opinion on them is that they are just a fashion item that can also play audio. I believe the main reason people buy them is because people know they are overpriced and Apple is a popular company so people that buy them will think they will look more wealthy out of insecurity of how others perceive them. Also due to their popularity, people that don't know anything about audio will just assume that something expensive from Apple is automatically the best option. Other companies copying Apple have only worsened this and now we live in an age where almost all phones don't have a headphone jack in an attempt to get people to buy a more expensive technology that is worse for the dollar.
Screens And Bezels
Screens should be rectangular. I find this whole trend of rounding corners on screens to be really stupid. You aren't making a screen more appealing to look at by removing some of it. Another thing that is stupid is that as of this paragraph's rewrite, notches and peepholes on the screen are still common in the more popular phones. It makes more sense to me to just have a thin bezel for the ego camera, light sensor, and speaker but companies decided having overly long screens is more important than having an actual full screen. People also seem to just have an unreasonable disdain for bezels as a whole. While thinner bezels are preferable, I don't want to use a 20:9 screen slab that uses touch swiping for home button functions.
Cameras
A lot of people care about a phone's camera. The way I see it, if you are willing to spend over a thousand dollars on phone over a camera, you should just buy a really good camera and a cheaper phone. A lot of companies just keep adding cameras to their phones every couple years or changing some design element because they know people can tell which phone it is by these characteristics. People will buy the new phones because they think they will look cooler because their new $1200 phone has 3 cameras instead of 2 and the people that envy the 'wealth' of others will go out and buy the same product in an attempt to look better.
Software
The App Store, which is the only app source I have significant experience with is utter trash. The layout of it encompasses almost everything I hate about modern UI design. There are ads and junk apps that take up 1/3 - 2/3 of the screen, everything is a mess of rows that all look the same and confuse your senses, and navigation is just impossible for me, even though I've had this version of the App Store for years, I'm just as confused trying to use it as your grandma would be. Regarding the actual apps themselves, trash, it's mostly just spyware junk. If you want just a simple utility app like a simple QR reader, it will request permissions beyond it's intended functionality. This is why iPhones need to have the option to allow downloads from other sources. The App Store just contains so much junk when it comes to trying to get simple utility apps which are almost the only apps I use. Logging out and in of an Apple ID on an Apple device will also turn on iCloud backups and Find My without your consent.
Final/Post-Publication
Modern phones just play into the psychology of people's desires to appear better and that's what they do now. Actually useful features and necessary design changes come second. Phones have become a fashion piece to flaunt that you have the newest, more expensive product. Due to this, I believe cell phones will just get worse. I've seen the existence of Linux phones and since writing this article, learned about Android custom ROMs and plan to use these for any future phones I possess.
Since writing this article, I have learned more about the evils of phones, a lot more than I already knew. I have rewritten and amended sections. I also feel the need to state that I will not use an iPhone or Googled Android for any future devices I use. I have learned about open source/libre software and since then will try to use only such software.
Written 2021-7-17 Published 2021-8-1 Updated 2022-10-1