LU & DY:
You imply that I neglect the addictive features of a fully filtered smartphone and its impact on our lives. Not at all. I do not believe that there is a successful way of legislating that, and that doing so will result in any improvement. The bans absolutely accomplish nothing with regards to making our lives more Torahdik. Nothing.
Serious lacking from this discussion, as well as many other discussions in the CR is that we have failed to maintain the passion and התלהבות that is the energy of continuity for Yiddishkeit. Without it, there is no experience of סיפוק הנפש, and the human being will predictably gravitate towards the easiest direction to experience הנאת הגוף. There are a myriad of possibilities, and the yetzer horah is continually honing his skills to do his job better. He uses all the tools that are available, and technology is one of them. HKB”H allowed these advances in science to give us a boost in our Avodas Hashem. These forms of technology are not evil. But the yetzer horah does quite well, making us use them for lashon horah, and making us addicted to the instant communications that were never needed before these inventions. Just 20 years ago, we shopped without cell phones, and we somehow survived the experience of additional items being needed, or showing pictures of something to everyone we know. We all survived eating suppers without broadcasting to the world the menus. And if we found meaning in our lives, these “advances” would all be experienced as just specimens of stupidity that reduce our functioning to that of a monkey in the zoo.
No, I am not oblivious to these aspects of technology. They exist pretty much on flip phones. The bells and whistles do not trigger the yetzer horah. But they can be used as tools, just as going to shul on Shabbos can be a place where to socialize, sometimes with דבורי חול, sometimes with לשון הרע, sometimes talking during davening. It is a foolish to say that someone who does that should never go to shul.
We have seen the viral clips of people busy with their phones, walking into pools, glass doors, etc. I would love to see one of these hapless souls try to sue the manufacturer of the phone because he/she was distracted and did such completely inane things. Would it be the fault of the phone? yes, technology has advanced, and that is continuing. Our grandchildren may one day remark about how we need to hold cell phones or dial on them. All the asifos in the world won’t reverse that. Learn to live with it.