I’d argue that having 24/7 access to the Internet is inherently addictive. Social media apps just tend to exploit that using various psychological techniques so they can get their users to use their apps moreso than other apps.
I use exclusively open source apps to access YouTube (PipePipe in my case) and Lemmy, and I am absolutely still addicted to my phone.
There’s nothing intrinsically addictive about a smartphone; the problem is the apps, and particularly social media.
I’d argue that having 24/7 access to the Internet is inherently addictive. Social media apps just tend to exploit that using various psychological techniques so they can get their users to use their apps moreso than other apps.
I use exclusively open source apps to access YouTube (PipePipe in my case) and Lemmy, and I am absolutely still addicted to my phone.