As someone born in the early 2000s, I can only say that there will be a divide of the informed and the uninformed. The true tragedy of my generation, to be honest, will be the people who have the tools and information at their disposal to actually understand the world, but opt instead for the comfort food of AI, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon's services.

I am an electrical engineering student, hopefully about to graduate in the near future, and I can tell you that some of my peers have the same thought process you and I have. We're willing to do the research, understand the pros and cons of convenience, and adjust our lives in the best ways we can. I switched to the FOSS ecosystem as much as I reasonably could. (Barring LTSC windows 10 for some program compatibility)

The majority don't care, however. In non-technical fields it's worse, many following the "I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear" argument. They use ChatGPT on a daily basis, are more than happy to upload photo after photo on Meta's suite, and complain about Windows 11 without bothering to consider alternatives. Any attempts I've had at explaining the reality of their "free" services gets just a weird look and them walking away.

The irony of ironies is that I was born, raised, and educated in Silicon Valley, ground zero, and will likely graduate into working at a company that makes this issue worse. But at least my private life, my friends, and those I've helped will have a lifeline.