The same criticism was leveled at social media, mostly Facebook. Then at mobile phones. Before that, it was aimed at television. In between, it was aimed at games.

The big change is that we've solved boredom. More entertainment content is instantly available than anyone can consume. Humanity has solved "timepass". (That term is used mostly in India [1], but is generally applicable.) A sizable fraction of the population walks around looking at their phone. Once AR glasses catch on, that will get worse.

If you're not bored, you can be lonely, but it doesn't matter as much.

[1] https://ishanmishra.in/50-most-weird-sites-best-funny-websit...