While I take a lot of issues with the article itself, I concur the core message completely due to having done the experiment myself.
Two months ago I gave up my phone for a week, for a class on ethics along with a single other student.
Not being able to listen to podcasts, audiobooks, and music everywhere I go, I fell into so many more conversations than I normally would in a week.
what I realized was that, while I didn't feel addicted to my phone I definitely was missing out on a lot of unique interactions by wearing headphones everywhere I went.