First, this would be a better question to ask in a Linux specific community.
Second, Build time is really subjective to the computer and its hardware. There could be bottlenecks at the cpu/memory from the motherboard that will slow it down. It also depends on whether you’re spinning rust or using an ssd.
There are a lot of factors involved in the whole that makes it hard to definitively say how long something takes to build.
Pretty much the only time we need passports is if we travel outside the U.S. and territories. Those that take cruises or cross borders to other countries would, but generally speaking a majority of Americans don’t have passports.
Money for the most part for a lot of people.
Passports are $400+ USD, then there are the plane tickets, which are hundreds of dollars. Then to top it off you need to have room and board while looking for a job and someplace to live.
Another thing I’ve heard is fear of leaving the known and family.
I don’t know about gnome, but on KDE you can disable touch support under settings>mouse & touchpad.