The real question for me is how do we fix it? Both at the societal level but especially at the personal level for me I’ve been aware of this habit but unable to kick it for years now.
The way I am trying to solve this is by building a different kind of content feed. One that is not optimized for "time-spent-on-site" but for "will you be happy to have spent time on it".
This is how https://linklonk.com works: you upvote content that you found useful and the system gives more priority to users and RSS feeds that posted this content in your future content recommendations. As a result you see content from those who have brought to you useful information in the past - a feedback loop that is better aligned with your needs.
Tax and regulate the everloving heck out of the field.
Prior to the 1830s, Britain had exorbitantly high tax rates on advertising, I'm given to understand. (I've found relatively little material on this fact, and forget where I picked up the information.)
We can't if we keep running a society that's working people into a minimal life.
Reduce work and living expenses to give people back some time and energy to actually pick up something more complicated than social feeds or digital entertainment.
Totally agree with this principle although that’s not what drives me to use my phone. I have a very generous amount of free time for my age, and I squander it for some reason.
This is how https://linklonk.com works: you upvote content that you found useful and the system gives more priority to users and RSS feeds that posted this content in your future content recommendations. As a result you see content from those who have brought to you useful information in the past - a feedback loop that is better aligned with your needs.