> and it was mainly smartphones that enabled that, because they let you take the internet outdoors. I'm not sure it was "taking the internet outdoors" that mad

> and it was mainly smartphones that enabled that, because they let you take the internet outdoors. I'm not sure it was "taking the internet outdoors" that made the difference - we could do that before, I certainly did with laptops. The key difference with smartphones, IMO, was the conversion of the internet from a "pull" technology (I had to choose to go to a website) to a "push" technology (that website/service can disrupt me wherever I am). That's driven a lot of the nasty impacts (remember how Facebook used to send nonsensical pings to your phone to drag you in? "Your friend so-and-so you've not talked to in 20 years has a birthday! Wish them well!" I assume it still does it, but I've long since stopped using it and it hasn't been an app on my phone in far more years than that). But we also had all the work on addiction from the "free to play" game model enabled by in-app purchases, which supercharged the research into how to just drive people up the wall and keep them staring at your service ("engaged"). If smartphones only worked inside, I think the problems would be almost as bad. I agree with you about smartphones, I just think there's a bit more nuance into why they ruined everything.