Firefox: "Consider ways to reduce your digital carbon footprint"
Also Firefox: "Throw out your perfectly fine phone and buy a new one! Do not think about the slave labor and environmental/climate costs that will go into producing it."
(I feel critical of Firefox in this thread, but I wouldn't dream of using Chrome. Mozilla are at least half decent and aim towards ethical behavior. But it would be nice if they let us do the things they recommend.)
I don't consider a phone that hasn't received security updates in 2.5 years "perfectly fine". I'm all for extending the life of older devices, don't misunderstand me, but that requires software updates. My phone is probably much older than those of most HN'ers (been using it for over 3 years now) and I used my last laptop for 7 years. But I don't run ancient unsupported software on either.
What I'm saying is "you shouldn't run Android 4.x in 2020", not "you shouldn't use a device from 2014 in 2020". Whether it be through better manufacturer support or a custom ROM like LineageOS, these ancient versions need to die.
In the rest of life, we don't consider security flaws impose an obligation to replace something. For instance, your average home's door - fundamentally a security device! - is flimsy and does not offer much resistance. More durable doors are available, but not normally considered worth it.
Considering how many Android 4 devices are still in use today, Google and the manufacturers are behaving incredibly unreasonably in not supporting them. Nothing about Android 4 means it should die, any more in 2020 than in 2014. Google could suddenly grow a conscience and stop being evil tomorrow if they wanted; the fact that they have not updated in in several years does not mean they cannot start updating it again. It is not incumbent on the owners of any phone to discard it.
Please do not confuse the intrinsic properties of a product with business decisions. Corporations need to be responsible for the products that they release. Google is no less of a polluter than the company that releases waste chemicals into the local river.
(LineageOS is no be all end all. Many devices are not supported at all, and volunteers have no obligation to clean up for lazy private companies with no sense of obligation to the communities that make them their profits.)
Also Firefox: "Throw out your perfectly fine phone and buy a new one! Do not think about the slave labor and environmental/climate costs that will go into producing it."
(I feel critical of Firefox in this thread, but I wouldn't dream of using Chrome. Mozilla are at least half decent and aim towards ethical behavior. But it would be nice if they let us do the things they recommend.)