Thanks for highlighting the bad UX of crypto currencies, as it provides a nice segue into the financial danger that UX causes, as it creates customer-demand for simplifications that exchanges provide – so every time an exchange does something rugpull-ish we're actually testing how much of crypto's market-cap is based on maybe not-so-sturdy confidence of retail investors...

This statement bugs me because it is a large source of confusion for new people.

Your funds are spendable by your private key. Your private key is stored on Metamask, Ledger or a piece of paper.

It’s an important distinction to make. Your hardware wallet is just a custodian of your private key.

That bugs me too.

Almost every document out there talks about storing coins in your wallet. It’s actually a private key in there.

Maybe with the right language, more people might be tempted to hold their own keys and eschew centralised exchanges.

You either have a healthy ecosystem or you don't.

This is great if I want to store it, or spend it on places that accept Bitcoin (or other coins) but what if I want to exchange it for another currency? Seems to me only two options, an exchange or a face to face trade?

You can use something like https://bisq.network/