Not so long ago, the default position, if one were an internet-savvy older person beginning to feel queasy when noticing groups of kids bent over their phones, was to say to oneself, "Well, that's life; once, Socrates feared print's effect on memory, and now, I fear this." One definitely didn't say out loud, online, "The kids shouldn't have phones," unless one were writing for the Atlantic. A weary "it has always been thus" pose toward the topic was in order-television, Walkmans, rock music, the youths are always up to something the adults think is stupid.
