I disagree somewhat. The problem was that they should've been introduced to society more slowly, and with more cautions. There were already people addicted to their "dumb" cell phones, so the outcome was inevitable. Letting kids have smart phones was also a poorly thought out idea.

Plenty of us who grew up analog never got addicted to our smart phones because we didn't expect instant communication. We also learned how to get around with maps, landmarks, and verbal instructions. I almost never use GPS, and the times my husband has used it on trips, it just gets us lost.

Not every boss abuses after-hours communication, which there ought to be laws, or at least company policies about. Crises were managed for thousands of years without daily after-hours group texts from the boss.

People, especially children, made friends a lot more easily when they weren't parked behind a screen with imaginary friends. And not enough people make "no phones" a requirement on dates or in meetings.

We adopted smart phone abuse before stopping to think of what sensible smart phone use might actually look like. People wanting to sell stuff ate it up and started apps that got people hooked.

The phones themselves aren't the problem. They're just a communication tool, and even come with a handy little toggle on the side to turn off all alerts. The problems are with the apps that suck people into a feedback loop, the abuse by bosses, and the way society embraced all of that before realizing that maybe this was a bad idea. Those of us who saw it as just another tool for our own convenience, and not that of every other person on the planet, are doing just fine.