By "average Joe" I'm not referring to someone like my grandma or you, I mean someone who isn't a professional repair shop with specialized equipment, but still knows a few things about technology.
I've repaired tons of my own devices over the years. The most "hardcore" repair I've done was replacing a blown capacitor in a Samsung monitor. The monitor was like $200, and the new capacitor cost less than a dollar. I'm terrible at soldering, and have zero skill in that category. That soldering job I did came out really bad, but that monitor still works ~8 years later, and it's sitting on my desk right now as I'm typing this.
> Technology, especially mobile, is at a stage where repairing at home is impossible due to integration and miniaturization.
> Maybe you could install your own RAM on a laptop. Well now that RAM is in the CPU, because it has to be there. So what do we do? Complain until technology goes back a decade or a few?
Neither "right to repair" nor my original comment advocate for being able to repair your own devices at home. I said that, because new devices are impossible to repair at home, it's critical that independent repair shops can exist, because they have expertise and equipment most people don't have to home. Without those independent repair shops, customers are forced to pay the manufacturer for repairs. Apple charges $300 to "fix" a broken screen (they actually just send you a new phone), even though the displays are nowhere near that expensive and Apple can get them at cost (or close to it).
And right to repair has NOTHING to do with changing devices, making them go back "a decade or two", or any bullshit FUD like that. Seriously, go to https://www.fighttorepair.org/ and educate yourself on it so that you see it's 100% in your interests as a consumer.