Good points. When I think of hackability tho, I think about the devices and "toys" that I already have. Back in the day you just hacked on what you already had. Also, most of the time you were a kid or teenager that couldn't even afford the 10 bucks for the pi, so unless your parents bought one, you were out of luck. I had to take apart my dad's VCR and computers and stuff in order to learn.

But for an older person, you make some great points.