tbh, i think systemd unifying most of the linux stack under the hood is a good thing, even though i do disagree with some of their recent decisions (namely the one about using AI tooling to write it). even the age grouping stuff idc too much about because all systemd does is provide a unified interface for the info, it doesn't really do anything itself and if you care about privacy you can just give it fake info - it does zero age/identity verification stuff.
(side note - the fact that the pr for that in systemd was introduced by the same person who did it on several other projects is still sketchy and should be looked into tbh? but my point is systemd largely has been a good thing by simplifying stuff like service management, and getting a bunch of the main services needed for a system to be better integrated together)