Think about how the earliest versions of Android didn’t even come with a basic file browser, for example.

They didn't offer an official app, but the Google Store was flooded with 3rd party alternatives practically the day the OS was released.

Even then, knowing what an "App Store" is and how/why you'd use it is a skill more common among younger users. My mother, who happily goes on her laptop and installs all sorts of garbage, had no idea how to add an app to her phone. My younger coworkers are much more comfortable working through Citrix and other Cloud Services, because they don't expect a file system to be living under every app they use.

It’s the overall push to turn computers into single-use appliances, rather than general purpose devices.

I more felt that the phone was becoming a kind of mono-device or universal remote, with a lot of the IoT tech trying to turn it into an interface for every other kind of physical appliance. If anything, I feel like the phone does too much. As a result, its interface has to become more digital and generic and uniform in a way that makes using distinct applications and operations confusingly vague.

But growing up in an analog world has definitely tilted my expectations. Younger people seem perfectly fine with syncing their phones to anything with a receiver or RFID tag. And the particularly savvy ones seem interested in exploiting the fact that everything has a frequency. I've met more than a few kids who have fucked around with the Flipper and other wireless receiver gadgets.