LogFAQs > #986421242

I think there's room for debate whether the internet as a whole or social media are a net positive or negative.

I think smartphones have undoubtedly been a net negative. Before smartphones, you didn't have constant connectivity. Constant connectivity drives a need for constant content and engagement/rage bait. While true that it was really only dial-up and hard-wired connection that made "logging on" a discrete act, I don't know that people would be online so much on laptop wifi if we had no smartphones. With phones, now people can get online in the shitter, when they're waiting in line, etc.

There isn't even much a smartphone can do that I think of as a huge benefit. Its best function in an emergency is the actual phone part. Having a camera is nice but we had (shitty, but bound to improve) cameras in dumbphones before. GPS I suppose could also save someone's ass, but like 99% of the time it's just something that's overly relied on to make trips across town and shit. Almost all of the rest ultimately boils down to stuff that kills time, which was fun and novel for the first few years, but now I think more and more people are starting to see how bad this is.