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So, hear me out, what if Pheonix isn't actually the tech illiterate that everyone assumes he is? Everyone I know in real life who's under the age of 50 (and some who are) and isn’t using a smartphone, What's App, etc. not because of inability, but unwillingness. A phone like the one Pheonix has is by far the most secure one in terms of privacy. And no, college Feenie probably didn't think twice about that, he probably just wanted to save money, but Hobo!Nick, with the very real problem of Kristoph trying to control him as much as possible, would.
And then, where does MASON even come from? There are lots of stories that go into detail about the ideas of the jurist trial and how Pheonix and Edgeworth did the research for that (possibly for years). But who programmed that thing? Sure, could have been Ema, but she never struck me as the programming type, she seems too practical for that.
But, in canon, that leaves exactly nobody. And while you could just pay someone to do the coding (or Edgey could at least), someone would still have to insert the actual video recordings and make them interactive (and that'd be a lot of work). But that someone would have to have complete knowledge about everything. Would Hobo!Nick, who doesn't actually trust Apollo (!) fully until the end, really take such a risk?
So maybe, during those long seven years, Pheonix took up studying about programming and computer science and privacy and all that stuff (he is highly intelligent and there are a lot of resources if you know how to look for them). And at some point, his "inability" to use the modern electronics turned into a mask, just like so much else. One more ace up his sleeve, one more thing, that might give him a crucial advantage one day.
And after all was said and done, he just didn't feel comfortable enough dropping it. Like, he still has secrets and as long as he has those, he can't be hurt as badly as before because people will wrongfully underestimate him.
And really, why should he tell anyone? Everyone knows that Facebook is using our data, if no one’s listening to all the experts, why should they listen to an attorney who once upon a time didn't even manage to set his own ringtone?
