In the 1950s, the playwright and composer Noel Coward was asked by an acquaintance whether he’d seen a certain TV broadcast, to which Coward responded tartly, “Television is for appearing on — not for looking at.” Today millions of would-be Kylie Jenners and Joe Rogans emphatically agree with him, although CBS, NBC, and ABC have been replaced by Instagram, X, Snapchat, and fusty Facebook, which insists upon staying at the party too long.

The most significant revolution in the 21st century has been the omnipresence of smartphones and the social media platforms that demonically inhabit our lives, seemingly coveting the souls of users of these devices. As recent Senate hearings confirmed, social media has become a bazaar for the world’s evils. But solely focusing on pedophilia, cyberbullying, political radicalism, and other pathologies misses a more concealed harm: The ordinary, intended use of these platforms is crippling our lives.