Even if this is true, the condition can go as far back as your childhood as well. When it is clear that the organism should be doing something, it does it. If it is somehow not clear, it is likely just not necessary.

A significant confounding factor is the lack of awareness of the productive forces. The average suburban school kid has relatively little idea of how the world works and what workers actually do, and why, in part due to a culture of corporate secrecy.

"No phones in school" can be a stopgap but really produces a dead end arms-race situation, even if it worked for a time. The only solution is to make school genuinely interesting and relevant. Until institutionalized education is no longer interesting and relevant on the face of it.