I think the big disconnect is that most normies don't know what the UTXO set size is, they only understand "block size."
To put it simply, the size of the blockchain (i.e., the total size of all blocks) only affects the initial sync time when setting up a node from scratch. This can grow by a maximum of 4MB per block (realistically around 2MB).
In theory, you need to sync a node from scratch only once in your lifetime... for new nodes, you can skip the sync by downloading a UTXO Set then verifying that your new node has the same UTXO Set hash as one of your older nodes.
You DO NOT NEED to store all the blocks, nor should you, unless you have a pretty good reason.
So, optimizing blockchain size does not significantly reduce the minimum resources required to run a node. At best, it slightly reduces bandwidth usage. If you do store all the blocks, due to current consensus rule, you should anyway plan for a 2MB per blocks increase for planning your hardware upgrade.
More important than the blockchain size, it is what everyone MUST store: The UTXO set size.
Developers care far more about the size of the UTXO set because it determines the minimum storage required to run a full node. (A "full node" means you verify all blocks, not necessarily store them all.)
The UTXO set used to be around 4GB. Due to inscriptions and BRC-20, it has grown to about 12GB.
The UTXO set does not store OP_RETURN data or signatures.
If you want your node to keep running smoothly on small devices, focus on minimizing the UTXO set size, not the blockchain size. And this is why, lot's of devs don't really care about OP_RETURN limits.