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The smartphone trap we built for ourselves

It’s time to end the mandatory QR code.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things that, as recently as seven years ago, we could reliably do without a smartphone:

Read a restaurant menu while seated inside, and pay your check.

Enter a concert or sporting event

Use a parking garage or park your car on the street

Receive packages or retrieve purchases

Complete the sign-in process for work, banking, or government services

Attend school events or communicate with your kid’s school

Access health care and other kinds of appointments

Get into a gym or fitness class

I’ve been thinking about this drift toward mandatory apps and QR codes a lot lately, as a new millennial parent unhappy with my addictive tendency to mindlessly scroll near my baby. I also know that, parent or not, the research on ways that heavy smartphone use negatively affects our own well-being, attention spans, and relationships has become near-impossible to ignore. And people don’t need meta-analyses to be convinced: It’s why so many are turning to tools and hacks that aim to help us limit our phone use, or at least time spent scrolling on certain apps. It’s also why we’re seeing a wave of new clubs and social events that are proudly phone-free.

I think these “digital detoxes” are encouraging, and I’ve been researching so-called dumb phones myself. But none of these trends will really matter if we’re continually forced into a world of apps for every element of daily life.

Late last month, Meta agreed to pay at least $12.1 billion to settle claims that it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children, and announced it would be redesigning the platforms for younger users to include daily time limits, overnight lockouts, and restrictions on like counts and beauty filters.

It’s a start, but we have to think bigger than just the algorithms that keep us glued to our phones. Because they’re not the only forces that make quitting so hard. Increasingly, it’s just basic access to services and companies and public institutions that are making a smartphone exit feel elusive.

You should not have to have an addictive device in your pocket at all times in order to do ordinary things. We should be........

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