I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not the price of the electronics (which are very cheap), or the availability of them (they are plentiful), or even th

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not the price of the electronics (which are very cheap), or the availability of them (they are plentiful), or even the knowledge to learn (this is the age of the Internet on mobile devices), but is actually the price of another thing that that is going up: time (and by extension, focus). I feel that students have to start planning for college earlier and earlier these days, even planning how courses line up as early as middle school. When all academic scheduling decisions (sports, classes, extra curriculars, clubs, etc.) are always viewed through the lens of college admission, there is very little time to turn brains off and just play with the knowledge they've gained thus far. If an activity isn't directly linked to job training of one or two strong focuses that could potentially lead to a major in college and a job afterward, they aren't seriously considered as an activity worth spending time on, and that is a pity. I would add lastly that as a counterbalance to this extreme need for academic focus, instead of seeking invigorating hobbies to which students at the end of the day will lack the energy for, they instead seek more mindless and passive activities which are readily available on their mobile devices. The harder they work, the dumber they want their hobbies to be.