How Much Should We Really Be Blaming Our Phones For Every Ill?

It’s a tool vs. use problem, somewhat.

Ted Bauer
4 min readJun 5, 2023

It’s very popular, and I mean very popular, to blame phones for most modern societal ills. Jean Twenge of San Diego State University has ostensibly made a cottage industry and huge speaker fees out of blaming phones for everything — and there’s definitely some worth to that argument. Her big thing has always been that depression seemed to start spiking in 2011, which is around “at-scale” smartphones. Most of those arguments are in this article:

Yesterday I got a Trish Harrison Warren newsletter that’s really an interview with some guy Andy Crouch, who is promoting a book. Here’s that newsletter:

Interesting topic, and the Crouch guy begins by explaining his approach:

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Ted Bauer

Mostly write about work, leadership, friendship, masculinity, male infertility, and some other stuff along the way. It's a pleasure to be here.