[Causality1]

"You can't be addicted to technology because people have historically panicked over other addictions like novels and hobbies" is such a vapid argument. Human beings have a strong propensity for addiction to stimulation, in whatever form they can get it. Novels, sports, hobbies, social media, whatever. We know this, we want this, and we're willing to give it to each other in increasingly convenient ways. Player pianos, novels, television, smartphone, the march of convenient stimulation goes ever on. That doesn't stop it from being an addiction.

There is a dangerous threshold where the stimulation becomes so easy it threatens our everyday lives. My sister in law is a kindergarten teacher. She says kids ask her on a regular basis how to get their parents to talk to them instead of looking at their phones.

[mikepurvis]

That's horrifying. As a parent myself, I know I spend too much of my time with my kids on my phone, but I also don't use it at the dinner/lunch table, while I'm reading to them or tucking them in, while we're having an actual conversation or doing an activity like playing a board game or going for a bike ride.

So there's room for improvement, but I hope that being intentional in carving out at least these handful of times every day is something.