I once heard a statement, something like:

"Civilization advances by the number of important things you can do without thinking about them".

Found it: Alfred North Whitehead:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_North_Whitehead#:~:text=Civilization%20....

"It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. *Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.* Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle — they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments."

YOUR proposed solution amounts to DECREASING the number of important things you can do without thinking about them.

Can you see how that's backsliding?

No, I do not see it, assuming we still live in democratic societies, where

On Sun, Aug 15, 2021 at 12:36 AM jim bell wrote: people have the freedom[1] to choose from. Let me explain it a bit. I am almost online for 40 years now, been here and there and done this and that online. What I see is an IV. virtual Reich, where people are addicted by those IMHO stupid smartphones, doing things they really do not need for daily live and and that there moves can be globally controlled by third parties. I do not want to see postal stamps, letters and postcards or banknotes disappear, let alone the phone booths we had ... IMHO, what politicians could not accomplish in analog modus, they will accomplish it digitally, with the help of big tech companies. [1] Back to the roots with a Raspberry Pi and UUCP (for Usenet and email) with its additional *own static IPv6, free of charge* . Regards Stefan