We used to have a similar model, until they did away with the license nonsense and simply started funding public television from general taxes. The 5 people with no TV set complained for a while. But the savings were massive as there was no longer a need for an expensive enforcement agency.

MBAs: Let's outsource and cost-cut our way into danger!
Right-wing idiots on Slashdot: Der her look what DEI did!

Are you that easily tricked by stupid right-wing talking points?

See, here's the thing -- salaries are highly dependent on location. You might be able to get a beautiful, 3000 square foot house in Trumpistan, Alabama, but if the only jobs are "Walmart cashier" there then it's not going to help you very much. The fact that people can't understand this in 2024 baffles me.

A lot of companies won't (and probably shouldn't) care about items 1 and 2, and won't care that much about 4.

Now do housing costs.

Communism is people doing unnecessary work because bureaucrats don't know what they're doing. A 32-hour work week improves employee health while revenues remain stable or increase.

Plus you'll be stuck for 3 hours in a TSA queue.

Maybe. Still, it's nicer to listen to a dreamer than a naysayer, even if the latter is right. I miss the optimism mankind used to have.

Again: the idea is not to convince individual parents, but to change culture. Starting with the schools, perhaps. It won't be just your kid being without a cellphone then, will it? Sometimes it really does take a village...

That's why the author proposes a culture change; obviously you're not going the change anything by being the only parent to follow his advise. Thankfully, parents and educators are becoming more aware of the negative effects of cell phones on kids, and this article hopefully will add a little more fuel to that fire.

A little while ago cell phones were banned from primary schools here in the Netherlands. Since the start of this year, they are banned from high school classrooms as well; schools can choose how to implement this (for instance: let the kids keep their phones in their lockers, and allow use during breaks). Not a complete break with cell phones, but it's an important start.

It uses up resources to create arbitrary value so it's the opposite of a wealth engine.

Maybe. Before we had Office 365, Office did not need any selling point besides the fact that everyone else was using it. And before we had Office 365, we often had document management systems that were actually any good*, and allowed easy sharing and managing access to documents. But it seems we have largely forgotten about those**

*) Sharepoint is definitely not one of them, I'd hesitate to call it a document management system of any quality.
**) Thanks to Sharepoint.

LibreOffice is there for the using. And no we don't need this cloud crap.

Absolutely. That is not "a problem", that is its purpose. They've floated similar ideas in the EU with regards to free speech, and it is the same approach they have taking with banks being tasked to police illicit transactions.