Dear Avram,
Hands of and nuanced is not the same thing. I stopped fighting the crusaders when a Rebbe told me that this was his first time going along with a broad movement after fifteen years in various yeshivos. He wanted to do it slowly case by case, but he had to many people willing to run him out of town for it.
The yeshiva with that group of boys, never understood what they were doing and the bachurim had a big impact on the ruach of the yeshiva. Then one of the staff decided that he is going to force his will on the yeshiva, no matter the price. Coincidentally, it was after he was challenged to have a tech free yeshiva. (PS People who strongly believe in zero phone policies, think this yeshiva did everything wrong.)
My argument is that the learning is more of a measure of any bochur than the phone. While addictions can ruin a bachur, it takes the hanhala to ruin a zman for everyone. The tremendous impact to today, is that made many yeshivos even more deaf to their bachurim. I wasn’t referring to just group. Though most of them wasted a lot of their capabilities.
The phones were banned. The pedestal group were those that signed to not touch a smartphone. there was a group that didn’t need phones, but thought the whole thing was a joke. Others hid their phones. This group was I’m only not having a phone because I can’t. So they bent the rule as much as they could. They were told things like your not coming on time to seder so we are giving your chavrusa away. Unless you sign the paper.
Instead of being occupied with their phone on the yeshiva campus, they went to where they had phones or to other people who had phones. And one bachur had a bad relationship that he was keeping at arm’s length. Some of the hanhala agreed that in theory he should have an exception, but those that wanted a tech free yeshiva wouldn’t hear of it.