alt Hacker NewsIf you really want to get into a game of theoretically vs practically, for most users: they're only theoretically harmed by not being able to disable background activity, because all they're doing is texting (worst case, there's GCM which is whitelisted) and watching tiktok. Meanwhile they're practically harmed because the one-of-a-dozen e-commerce app has some misbehaving background service that's trying to send telemetry 24/7. People also have terrible battery discipline, and if you're out and about a dead phone has actual costs (eg. having to rent a power bank, or having to take a cab rather than uber).
None of this invalidates your use case, but given the rarity of your use case compared to the more common use case, I hope you understand why companies are implementing it not purely out of "spite".
Spite?
A thing can be abhorrent and disdainful and motivated by the best and most pure of intentions, all at the same time. These are not in any way mutually-exclusive constructs.
Rarity?
Perhaps the best way to make sure a thing remains rare or unusual is to neuter it straight out of the gate. In the past few days here we've seen SSH servers and Docker containers on Android, with the repeated caveat of "Yeah, but the task killer won't let that really work." And that's absolutely true: It won't.