Smartphones are not the source of all social ills | Henry Oliver

useful and imperfect simplification may be that technology has mostly continued to do what it has done: expand the range of human choices. Most things are more accessible to more people than at any other point in human history. In the process, we're finding out how people handle that ability. The results are certainly mixed. As somebody who thinks ... See more

Yet, smartphones are much more than an accumulation of improvements in hardware and software into a pocket-sized device that we spend too much time looking at. They represent something entirely new. When we pick up our phones, our taps and swipes engage not only a system of hardware and software, but also something much bigger—a set of institutions

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Of course, smartphones, by themselves, don’t force you to stop hanging out in person. But there are several reasons they reduce it. First, they’re a distraction — the rise of smartphones was also the rise of “ phubbing ”, i.e. when people go on their phones instead of paying attention to the people around them. Second, phones provide a behavioral

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