Investing on Research, Experimentation and Development

This writing is probably not what you think it is about.

I have a very specific taste on tech related things. I prefer Linux and I like android. But, growing up I didn't get to experience tech the same way my friends did. Or, at least I experienced it very differently.

The Context

Being from a third world country, there was always a delay before everyone adopted new tech. When computers were a household item in first world countries, it was a luxury here. And, while that gradually shifted and my friends who had their own house on the city I lived in had computers and laptops they played games on and consumed content. I was very little back then, but though my friends had those things, my parent didn't let me have a feeling that we were actually poor. I grew up exploring all the setting pages on "keypad" phones, then when dad bought a new phone, (still keypad), Nokia X2-00 I used Google on the "keypad" phone.

I downloaded small java games on the keypad phone and played on it, without dad realizing that while I downloaded the games his balance would decrease by 2 points. From Snake then Bounce then Diamond Rush then to playing Ben 10 and Assassin's Creed and even open world games similar to "GTA" that I found on the internet, I explored a lot. I didn't know what a Browser was or what all the settings in it like syncronization meant. But, I knew it was a place where I can download games from, or search for google.com and later facebook.com. I was very occupied with phones, and when we went back to our village during holidays I was the one fixing all peoples issues on their phones and giving them games and music and all. (I was the rich kid on the village.) People called me "A phone bug"; because I was always attached to phones and knew its way around, like how bugs are always attached to a fruit and live in it.

But, what I always wanted was a Laptop, like my friends had. I wanted to play games PES, GTA, etc like my friends did. But, games were almost a bad word in the household because it took away from study time and homework time which was much more important. Playing games on phones, on computers is bad is what my parents thought. While they surely couldn't afford buying a computer at that time, the possibility of me spending time on games was a big risk they didn't want to take on their only son's future. But, I was fixated on having a laptop.

Then there was an era of smartphones, with Gionee (RIP) and then affordable MI phones.

Then dad built a house on the city and took on a lot of loan, we didn't have to pay rent and we had a house of our own. Then the coronavirus happened. Haha! no it's not a time jump I am not that young. My dad is a teacher and so is my mom, there was a pressure to shift to online classrooms and zoom calls. He had to buy a laptop, and I also was old enough to make good decisions (or so he thought). So, he proposed to buy a bare minimum laptop which could fulfill his needs and is also cheap. And from my 10 years or knowledge of watching reviews and everything. I chose a laptop with 4GB ram, 1TB SSD and a Ryzen 3 processor, with four cores (While the Intel i3 had only two.). After getting the laptop and getting to most up-to date software I was very excited. By, up-to date I mean Windows 11 Dev(Worst) Edition The laptop could only handle one browser and that was all.

The next day I searched the whole house for my dad's pendrive, found a 2GB drive and started searching for Linux distros. My choice was either mint or ubuntu but eventually I realized that the only ISO I can burn in that tiny pendrive was the Arch ISO. I spent the whole day installing Arch Linux and the whole night fixing the WI-FI drivers. So, I have a very little knowledge about windows. Because, arch ran like butter with multiple apps running simultaneously compared to Windows 11 Dev Edition. Dad didn't know the difference between Linux and Windows so, he didn't mind. We used to go on morning walks and I used to explain what RAM, Processors, Linux, Distro, DE etc. were. He used to keep nodding and I used to explain passionately.

But, that still wasn't mine, it was dads. It wasn't the laptop I wanted. I decided to study Computer Engineering Purely because of the love for computers, though I am struggling a lot with math and electronics now. as my bachelor degree and then finally I got a new laptop I really wanted.

That was the context, now lets come to the main topic.

Why am I writing this?

I have a sister, and the conditions of our financial situation isn't the same as when I was a kid. But, I can see the history repeating. It's been a few years and my sister has constantly asked for an iPhone. "All my friends have an iPhone, only I don't have one." She is 15 years old and we yes including me like always have always been playing safe. We are afraid that all she is going to do is spend time on watching and making TikToks and Reels.

I also know that you people already know how unhealthy social media is for kids.

She has been using an old tablet I got and dad's old laptop as her own to do anything on the internet. And dad's and mom's phones to make TikToks and capture pictures. The old tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 from ancient time which I flashed Lineage OS on, which had Android Kitkat running. It's very slow but it works.

Until yesterday, I was against buying her a phone. But, today I realized that I don't want an iPhone to be the "Goal" for anything she does. Like having my own laptop was for me. Because I do have a laptop but I am failing many subjects on computer engineering because I just don't have the will to do maths, not that having fulfilled my "goal" is a reason for not studying. Playing safe isn't the way to "save" the future of someone. I think she should get what she wants and get to explore why she wanted it and move on to wanting greater things.

But, iPhone isn't cheap and we all use "mid range" android phones that costed like $300. It'll be a big investment on an "Experiment" but if there is no experimentation and no research, there will never be development. I can take the example of my own country or even my campus for that.

I want my sister to dream big, dream of better things, than dream of an iPhone. I'm afraid because my sister doesn't even have an answer to the question of "What do you want to be?" other that that she wants to be rich and have an "iPhone", When kids of her age have at least an answer be it adorable.