Definitely true. We had a German professor with an essentially incomprehensible accent teaching calculus at our college. Basically everyone had to learn it from the textbook.

US compartmentalizes based on race. It’s apparent in essentially all of the media they export to the rest of the world.

Historically American society operated based on a race based caste system and the consequences of that echo into the present day.

Is there a guide you’d recommend following?

Eh you can achieve similar or greater privacy on a Android phone simply because it’s not locked down in the way an iPhone is.

Surely that’s not a uniquely American phenomenon.

They used to innovate, no doubt. But their products provide absolutely terrible value now. Great resale, sure. But you’re overpaying 20% for the hardware you’re getting which is not the case on the Android side. The only thing iPhone universally does better is 1) video and 2) ecosystem (if all your products are Apple). The rest is a tomaeto vs tomahto situation.

Not relevant to most basic users but I could not use a phone where I did not have the freedom to sideload apps, especially if I’m overpaying for the hardware.