I assumed he picked it up from e-waste

Oh man I cannot stand it, it’s a tolerable meme format at best when used correctly, but I find it insufferable when it’s applied mindlessly like this

Sure, but that’s kind of a nonsequitur to the question of whether this would have ended up as e-waste.

A: Would this end up as e-waste?

B: It's the end-users' fault if it does.

A: Okay, so...would this end up as e-waste?

We don’t literally know, because we can’t predict the future, but we can be reasonably certain that old tech like this laptop would have become e-waste in the hands of your average user, regardless of whether they should have been expected to take the time to learn how to prevent that or not.

Happens. Cars used to need special skills to even get started and drive around. Now a five year old can start one and drive off if they can reach the pedals. But they won’t have any clue how it actually works.