Cycles of Optimism and Pessimism
gopher.floodgap.com
gopher.floodgap.com
Integrating new technology into society is always painful. It's supposed to be. I'm sure we'll figure out our relationship with smartphones and social media. People made the same arguments about Radio and TV. There was a period where we overdid it, but now the trend seems to be that we're pulling back and reassessing. It's a normal part of society's evolution.
In the long run, I'm always an optimist.
One part of radio was replaced with TV, the other I guess morphed into streaming services which provide access to practically all music at all times. TV was replaced by streaming services which have original content created under the assumption it will be binge watched and app behavior and interfaces that are specifically designed to keep you in your seat.
Social media and video game companies literally hire psychologist's to find ways to abuse human nature/evolution in order to keep you stuck in their apps.
Most people are just cruising through life like they are hooked up to an IV of dopamine.
For example TV usage kept growing until it peaked in 2010 when smartphones became popular: https://imgur.com/SJej6zm