I think the reason that studies have shown that even seeing a smartphone nearby causes stress is because it represents »the possibility of meaningful connection/relation.

Many of us are starving for what this possibility inclines us to imagine. The smartphone captures this thirst without answering it…

Crucially, the smartphone doesn’t have to actually accomplish that promise. It just has to sit there pretending that it »might happen. It can even accomplish the opposite … and still succeed wildly.

Few things are more successful than those that adopt this strategy. Even if this idea redefines success in a way that must nearly always be extremely toxic.