Wearing toe socks and minimalist shoes, combined with going barefoot as much as possible, has rescued my feet, ankles, and knees from pain.
Do not. Do not. Do not jump into jogging with barefoot or minimal shoes without a very very slow increase in distance. Even if you feel fine and don't notice any pain or problem, or your cardio can support you going 5 kilometers, you want to very slowly adjust up your distance/time spent doing harder exercise with that type of big change in footwear.
Otherwise you can give yourself injuries that can lead to short-term or even long-term/permanent complications that interfere with your quality of life and physical abilities.
Ergonomic keyboards, on the other hand, are something everyone should be using from the start (though we are still figuring out how to make them right). Humans evolved to sit and walk, but not to keyboard...
Years ago, I suddenly increased my walking and started having horrific pain in my arches. In response, I started wearing arch support insoles all the time. If I didn't wear them, my arches would ache. Like you said, my foot strength got very poor and I eventually suffered a serious injury in my midfoot playing basketball. During rehab, I stopped wearing the arch supports and eventually moved on to minimalist shoes and my feet have gotten dramatically stronger and I never notice weakness in my arches anymore.
They're not expensive, but they're certainly not cheap - but they certainly don't last very long at all. I walk a couple of miles a day to and from work and they barely lasted 6 weeks. Soles were worn down and the uppers were just knackered.
Bought new Converse shoes which were specifically marketed as walking shoes. 5-6 weeks of ~20 minutes moderate walking per day and they both had holes in the soles.
Went back to the Converse store and got told "no refunds". We eventually got our money back, but not without an argument. It pays to understand consumer protection laws where you live.
They aren't the highest quality shoe but they should last much longer than six weeks. Most of mine have lasted years with daily use.
I've never walked in flip flops, but I always take a pair to change into when we stop. People sit around in hot sweaty boots and socks, best case they're wetter & smellier than they need to be for the next day; quite likely to start rubbing and give sores; at worst promoting nasty fungal/bacterial goings on.
