Little update on the kid MP3 player project I posted about earlier.

We ended up using an old smartphone, stripped the fuck down. No browser. No games. Just a photo viewer, a podcast app, an audiobook app, a music player, and DSub, which connects to a Sonic server generously run by a homie.

The biggest pain in the ass was getting everything installed from F-Droid and setting up the sources properly, but it works.

And here’s the wild part: something actually shifted.

Before, when he played music on the computer, he’d just stare at whatever image was on the screen. We kept trying to tell him, “Music isn’t about staring at a screen, it’s about listening.” But good luck explaining that to a kid raised inside the glowing rectangle apocalypse.

Now he plays the music, turns the screen off, and just listens.

He’s been listening to podcasts, audiobooks, comedy, and we snuck in some Public Enemy among the hundred-plus albums buried in there. He really likes Public Enemy, which is obviously a parenting win.

So far, so good. It’s become an actual music-listening apparatus, not another dopamine extraction device.

I’ll keep reporting back from the front lines.