My mother has a Samsung Galaxy J5 that she bought several years ago. The phone is in great condition physically. However it only has 16GB of internal storage. Problem is she uses 99% of that space, making the device extremely slow and 0 updates possible or the ability to install any new app.

Only 10 apps out of perhaps hundreds on her phone can be removed, since the rest came pre-installed with the phone. Bloatware. Google + Samsung apps that are 100% useless. And they cannot be removed.

So, we cannot uninstall/remove anything. Now what can she do? Buy a new phone probably.

And this is how you create a massive amount of waste. On these phones you have no control over your OS, so if your phone is a few years old you can say bye bye to system updates. You cannot remove the bloatware. You cannot change the battery or any other components. And yes probably you can do some of those if you have a ton of time and skills to install a custom Android and have the guts to unglue your phone and change the battery. But most people will never do this.

I tried to make the SD card of her phone part of the system to expand the storage. Worked. But then what for if I cannot move 99% of apps there? I then enabled the developer mode and enabled the "force move the apps to the SD card". That allowed me to move a bit more apps but still 80% cannot be moved.

However when these moved apps update, they are reinstalled on the internal storage again. Basically 'd have to move them to the SD card all the time....sucks. Not sustainable...

I eventually managed to install adbmanager and luckily that allowed me to remove any bloatware I wanted.

Problem is you have to know the exact name of these apps and they look like "samsung.android.visioncloudagent" so you have to figure which app does what.... I found some websites where they list this bloatware like this or this. But it takes time to remove because you have to be VERY careful not to brick your phone.

After doing all of these she has some 1.7GB of free space. Which is fine for now but still unsustainable. I wonder if the next Android update will add back all of that bloatware....after all when I got some updates years ago Samsung decided to install Facebook and Instagram for me, without the ability to remove them.

So, her laptop uses Linux and not Windows, despite having Windows pre-installed when we bought it. Why not install a sane Android OS on her phone?

With laptops is a ton easier, especially for older models, to install an OS. My mother could do it if I gave her the instructions. With the phones it is a different world. People are already googlefied so you can't just install a new Android without connecting it to their previous account since everything is tied to that. You need to root the phone and hope that it won't brick it. That's something that can make your phone useless. Plus all of these custom Androids that have removed the bloatware only support a tiny fraction of all phones.

LineageOS for example, the one that supports by far the most models - wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ - does not support that phone.

The rest support mostly the Pixel phones, namely the newer ones. And that's another issue...even these custom OSes will support this or that device for a bit, then bye bye. Therefore you still have to buy newer devices even when you want a custom Android that is bloatware free.

Some of these even add their own bloatware like https://e.foundation/e-os/ - with their own subscription models.

I was considering to compromise on buying a second hand but newer model Pixel and then install one of those bloatfree Androids, but then if you buy such a phone second hand and the battery is crap and you can't replace it....what can you do!?

Linux phones, if anyone wonders, are an experiment at best at this stage. Plus they only support a few models too.

It is such a different world when it comes to computers. This Microsoft tablet is more than 10 years old:

And it still works with TROMjaro Linux. Granted to make the bluetooth and wifi work I had to install a custom kernel and do some gymnastics. Easier than installing a custom Android on a phone. But this tablet receives constant updates. And this was a special case since these tablets used some weird hardware for the bluetooth and wifi. Most decade old laptops/computers work just fine with the latest Linux.

So you can bring to life old computers but not old phones.

That's one major reason why I hate smartphones. They are disposable. They come bloated with a ton of crap. It is hard if not impossible to block ads on phones. Plus they are with you all the time so notifications and all that crap will make your life a hell.

Even a Linux phone would not be something I would use much since I do not want to always be trapped in the digital space.

In this trade based society companies are incentivized to release newer model of phones constantly. They support each model for a few years then bye bye. They pre-install a lot of crap to make more off of you. Trades: attention, data, subscriptions. So we end up with a world full of disposable ad-devices that people call as "smartphones". The irony of using the word "smart" for those devices.

And I get it, these devices if they were Linux based only, and supported indefinitely, could be useful in certain circumstances such as navigation, keeping in touch with close friends, etc.. But the rest seems to me like just a tool for consuming, trading. Your life being sucked away from you by companies and individuals who want your currency, your attention, your data.

UGLY.

I will eventually install a custom Android on my own personal phone, a Galaxy S7, 8 years old. To put some life into it. Just so that I get rid of the pile of shit that the software is on all phones nowadays, even if I only use my phone for GPS, maps, and such purposes.

Yesterday I went to the dentist. I didn't have to go for the past 4 or so years so that's the positive side. I used to go there for 3 or so years almost weekly, not long ago, because I had braces. I had really fucked up teeth and it took 3 years to fix them.

Anyway, I go there and they tell me to wait in the waiting room. I enter and I see a few C's. Some young, some oldish. By C's I mean people. Why C? Because that's how they look to me, like the letter C when they sit down and are bent over their phone screens.

I said a timid "Ola", and I think an older dude said "Ola" on just 5% volume.

I remember not long ago when I was going to the same dentist, waiting in the same waiting room, that most people were just sitting around. They had some magazines there and some were picking them up and browsing through them.

So I sit down and look around like I normally do. I could see through a big glass door how strongly it is raining outside. It was pouring. My mind shifted to the TROM II documentary, the stuff that I want to do next, my plans for the next months, and so forth. My mind drifted towards the scenery for a bit and I was thinking how weird that this water falls from the sky and how it sounds....those rain droplets falling on the pavement make a lot of sound. And sound is basically energy. The atmosphere, the stuff around, shaking, and the vibrations reach our ears. How cool.

I remember waiting in this waiting room for many hours when I was going for my braces. And had a lot of thoughts. I like to think about stuff.

I then look around me and the C's are still C. I am thinking "Do they think that I am a weirdo...the only one here just sitting like that and not bent as a C? Am I more like an L when I sit down?" - but then I thought.....are these people even thinking about that? Or thinking in general?

Not to be mean, but it seems to me like pretty much everyone nowadays has no more "free time" to think. That time is completely eaten by the phones and the computers and the tv....

Like....if they go to school/work, then they have to solve all sorts of issues they may have, then they have to buy food, cook, drive, take care of family members (like the soft-brained kids they may have), have homework.....then they are nonstop on their phones....Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Youtube.....Netflix....Amazon....shop, take photos, consume, like, share, chit-chat.

Honestly, does anyone nowadays have inner thoughts? Because even when you sit in your bed, before going to sleep, probably most humans are on their phones. They wake up with their phones in their faces too.

I was amusing myself thinking that in the near future people would go to a psychologist and be like...

Patient: I hear voices in my head!
Psychologist: What do they say?
Patient: idk....like words at times...
Psychologist: Do you hear them loud?
Patient: At times yes....
Psychologist: How often and when mostly?
Patient: Not that often, and usually when I do not do anything for some reason...
Psychologist: Ok, you may suffer from ITD.
Patient IDT?
Psychologist: Inner Thoughts Disorder. A lack of outside stimulation of the brain can cause the brain to shoot random thoughts. It is nothing to worry about. Back in the days people managed to deal with that on a daily basis. I recommend you these apps to keep your brain more engaged, and take one of these sleeping pills an hour before you want to go to bed.

:)

That's how I was amusing myself.

You know, I used to spend at least 2-3 hours in bed before going to sleep, thinking about stuff. And it is damn fun. At times I would spend 5-6 hours or more, staying in bed, thinking. Actually this thinking time allowed me to create TROM, the documentary. The many books I wrote and projects I created. Heck yeah, this article was created last night while I was sitting in bed, in darkness, just with my brain. Now I too have reduced the night thinking to say 1-2 hours for some reason, but I still think every single night before I go to bed. :)

These moments of you inside your brain are, I think, essential to get to know yourself and the world around you. To plan ahead, to talk to yourself, understand yourself and your relationships. And the world that is out there. Without it you are like a Rumba cleaning robot. Or other sorts of robots. You observe and are pushed by the stuff you are observing. But have no time for self-reflection. Your brain is a read only software by you, and read and write for the big companies that are keeping you busy.

People have become robots. And there is a good reason why. An explanation that have predicted that. TRADE.

The same way that humans became physical robots for the past centuries, working 8 to 12 hours a day, same way today their minds are being trading assets. Facebook, Google, Netflix, TikTok and the like, they NEED your mind to trade. Your attention and data are so valuable today. So they do all they can to transform you into a livestock animal, milked daily, because that's all they want.

It is a very ugly society we live in. Driven by the same force of trade.

When the printing press was invented some said that humans won't even think because they will spend time reading other people's thoughts. Wasn't true really. Newspapers and the invention of the TV, others said, will make people dumber by keeping them glued to those media outlets. Not entirely true, but to some degree truer than before. The "smartphone" and the internet era is on a different level tho. They do keep people busy most of the time, because it is run by a cancerous invasion of companies and individuals who want BRAINS. Mindless consuming BRAINS. And you carry that consumption device with you non stop, and rely on it.

I too rely on a phone....to keep in touch with my parents and because they require one when you have a bank account, go to the hospital, the dentist, and so on. But I decided to only use the phone for that. And for the weather at times. Plus GPS. The rest I do not care. Although I spend a ton of time online, I do so only on my laptop. On my phone I rarely even have credit. And on my laptop I do a lot of work for TROM. Besides that I do scroll through reddit at times, but mostly I use our own tools like TROMnews, I watch documentaries and so forth.

But man.....this is a scary world for me. I see most humans as zombies who are not alive, but simply are automatons that are fed and milked non stop for an endless trade society.

And I genuinely wonder if people still have inner thoughts nowadays....what do they dream at night about....what do they think when they are not C's....? Are they L's, I's anymore? idk....

One thing I am 100% sure is that if I did not spend a lot of time with myself, in my head, I would have been lost today. It is what allowed me to get rid of my suicidal and depressive behavior, what allowed me to change, what made me make TROM, write books, make videos, and so forth. Without these, there is no me.

It's been almost a year since the war started. Here are my condensed thoughts.

1. It is only Russia's fault.

And by that I mean a few who control Russia.

A bunch of talking heads say that US pushed Russia to invade, NATO bla bla bla. Does not matter if that's true, it is Russia who invaded Ukraine. They are dropping the bombs, they threw the first punch and keep on throwing more.

2. Russia has no excuses.

Russia is a nuclear weapons collector. They have the most numerous nuclear weapons in the world. Even if Ukraine joined NATO, even if Ukraine hosted some American nuclear weapons, it made 0 difference for Russia. No one is suicidal to ever attack Russia. For fucks-sake no one dares to attack North Korea because they have one and a half nuclear weapons...

So when Russia or others are blabbing about how they had no choices, that it is the Americans' fault for this, then this is pure nonsense of course.

3. The situation is very complicated.

Some say the world should keep on providing arms to Ukraine, some say this is terrible and only prolongs this war so more people will die, some say they should defeat Russia (now is the moment), some say Ukraine should accept some compromises and negotiate some peace talks....

But now that this war has created a lot of damage already it is hard to say wtf anyone should do next. Allowing Russia to take those Ukrainian territories seems like an invitation to grab more from Ukraine in the future. And it just feels wrong to let them do that...like terribly wrong.

4. The others are also big bullshitters.

On the other hand "the rest" are also complete idiots by thinking that Russia wants to take Ukraine, then the other tribes. Same way that no one dares to directly attack Russia, Russia cannot dare to attack any NATO members. It is pure suicide for both sides.

5. The profiteers.

Lots of people take advantage of this war. The ones selling weapons, the ones hosting the refugees, and lots of others who deal with the tons of money transfers for aid purposes or other purposes. Many people are getting rich because of this war.

6. USA and the rest are the opposite of saints.

USA; France, Germany and others, are supplying weapons to all sorts of dictatorial tribes around the world. They have killed, tortured, and destroyed a lot over the past decades. They are charlatans who pretend to care about Ukraine. Some might, but very likely they only follow their own interests. So fuck off with your superheroes attitude. You are not here to defeat the evil, you are here to prioritize only your own interests while sitting on the shoulders of dead and enslaved people.

7. The damaged ones.

Like with all wars, the ones suffering are not the ones who started the war. Are the ones that do not want any of this. Some are dead, many are refugees now.

8. I don't trust Ukraine.

The image of Ukraine, the heroes, I do not buy. I am sure there is some truth about what is being negatively said about them. Like them being influenced by the US, being engulfed in corruption, abusing in the past the areas that Russia occupied, that a bunch of people from those regions wanted to be part of Russia, especially in Crimea, and so forth.

9. Putin has failed.

Let's be naive and take Putin's words as true. If he wanted for the Russian people in those occupied regions to not be persecuted and treated badly, he achieved the opposite. He destroyed those areas, those lives. And made most of the world hate Russia and Russians.

If he was scared of Ukraine and how it was becoming a US puppet, and how they were getting new weapons and such, well...now Ukraine is even more a US puppet and has more weapons than they ever had. And they will get more. So, another failure.

If he wanted to push NATO further, then he achieved the opposite. NATO is closer and has more weapons now.

If he wanted to flex his muscles, he showcased that Russia has none.

All he achieved is dead people from both sides, destroyed homes and families, a worldwide hate on Russia; he isolated Russia in all regards, he showcased how badly prepared his army is, and made everyone look good and "come together" in this fakish fashion but one that made USA and Europe produce more arms, and ally against Russia.

10. The future is a constant suffering.

After all I am seeing, this war will drag for a long time. At best they get tired, exhausted, and will seek for a "peace deal" that may last for a bit of time, to then fight over those bordering regions again. Russia would love to destroy Ukraine, USA would love to drag Russia into a prolonged war.

It is an insane game that should not have existed in the first place.

I'll leave you with this image:

The nearest galaxy to us. Billions upon billions of stars. Even more planets. We are in this vast Universe....on a small round rock. Why aren't we helping each other, create a wonderful life for us all, and go explore the rest of the Universe? Why do we fight...?

We know who we are, from a scientific perspective. But almost no one understands....humans, despite the vast amount of knowledge about the universe and us, are still living like "citizens". Patriots, workers, statuses....Zombies.