This argument doesn't work, especially on a societal level. Tech companies are spending millions on researching how to make people addicted to their apps, and it's working. If you can overcome that, good for you. But for society at large, it's working extremely well and should be regulated as a society wide mental health issue, just as cigarettes and pollution need to be regulated to prevent lung cancer.

How would you recommend regulating this? Not saying it's a bad idea, but the tech industry moves so fast I'm not sure regulation would be able to keep up.

>You're in control of how you use it. Limit yourself to utility apps and you won't have a problem.

It's a methodological error to overestimate the power of humans as animals to resist reward systems such as these.

Yes, it can be done, but it's difficult, and most will fail (and there are other factors making it even more difficult, e.g. people tired from work, depression, children that have less developed self control or sense of purpose, etc).

I'm not sure what you and others are suggesting though.

Instead of the user limiting time on their own phone, you want the government to? Or you want the government to restrict certain practices from certain app makers?

There are many many many things people abuse and many many many industries that make their products as addictive as possible, that's the world we live in.

Go after the caffeine and sugar industry if you want to rid the most humans of addiction.

I honestly don't think humans can control their urge. It's like surrounding kids with candy. At some point we have to regulate it for the greater good ( I think sugar should be regulated like tobacco )

The war on drugs failed, you want to go to war with everything else humans can abuse?

In the end it's up to the person to practice self-control, passing the buck to the government just ends up in less freedom and more black markets.