I sure hope so. And I hope that future is an awful lot closer. The past decade or so of teenagers can speak to just how nasty smartphone addictions can be, in terms of mental health, suicides, etc. I grew up with the internet, but we didn't have profit-driven advertising empires pretending to "connect people together" back then, either.

Part of my reason for not carrying a smartphone anymore is to be a better example to my kids, and I certainly point out couples staring at his-n-hers smartphones at a restaurant instead of actually enjoying each other's company.

Odds are good that instead of a smartphone, my daughter will just end up with her HAM license and a VHF handset instead. It'll cover the common cases direct simplex if I put a base station on the house, and my wife isn't opposed to getting her license either. :)

Probably worse. After all, smoking mainly just gives people more health issues. Smartphones have far more insidious sociological effects on the very fabric of society.

I think a comparison that does it more justice is to the use of leaded gasoline and its downstream effects on crime rates.