I worked in the hostel industry for a long time. In "the old days", it was ridiculous to even travel with a cell phone. Laptops made no sense unless you had to work remotely. (I'd argue that they still don't make sense while traveling unless your work requires a laptop and you're going to work on the road.)

These days, the common areas of hostels are full of people staring at glowing screens, while hostel managers try to figure out how to get the guests to interact...