Different strokes for different folks. If you enjoy traveling sans smart device, go for it. That will never be something I do and I don't feel bad for it one bit.
There are many people who will respond to this, and think, "wow, yeah, I do spend a lot of time on my phone when I travel, instead of enjoying a new place", and might (at least) resolve to waste less time on their phone. There are others who will think, "that sounds like a cool idea; I'm going to try leaving my phone at the hotel on my next trip and see what happens", and then maybe have a cool experience.
If you don't want to do this, or already have a good handle on your phone use (so that you aren't using it to distract yourself from life), then maybe this post just isn't for you. There's no need to dump on it, or the author, for presenting a different way of doing things.
And there's nothing wrong with a judge-y "back in my day" kind of vibe in itself...
Some things were better "back in the day" while others are improved today...