That's definitely an argument within the community. Radio underlies a lot of modern tech like satellites, Bluetooth, and cellphones which are all just implementations of the same stuff you learn getting your ham license.
The primary goal of folks learning radio tech (via ham) today cannot be just talking to folks far away because, as you said, that's a solved problem. When you do get on these digital channels you find most of the conversation is about how you did it -- or ensuring that it worked. In other words, folks are using these technologies for exactly what you said -- learning about the radio side of it.
Just FYI, the hotspots use digital radio to communicate with your digital radio and Wi-Fi to communicate with internet servers, so they are radio devices, too.
The primary goal of folks learning radio tech (via ham) today cannot be just talking to folks far away because, as you said, that's a solved problem. When you do get on these digital channels you find most of the conversation is about how you did it -- or ensuring that it worked. In other words, folks are using these technologies for exactly what you said -- learning about the radio side of it.
Just FYI, the hotspots use digital radio to communicate with your digital radio and Wi-Fi to communicate with internet servers, so they are radio devices, too.