It reminds me about reading articles about a topic of which I'm an expert. First I notice all the errors and then I realize that every article must be like this to their domain experts.
It’s a big problem with evaluating news articles. They’re not journals and you can’t be sure what they are knowingly summarising and what they are over simplifying or obscuring and why. Definitely worth keeping a critical stance though.
Except those services don't exist in a vacuum. Presenting that power usage as if it is just stacked on top of the usage of a person without a phone is gross misrepresentation. Time spent on a phone is time not spent on a television, on a desktop pc, on a games console, driving a vehicle to some other distraction like a movie theater or amusement park. Except for the printed word a smartphone is among the least energy intensive ways to entertain a human being and I put forth that using one results in a reduction, not an increase, in overall energy use and carbon footprint compared to a person without one.