You clearly have no idea how cigarettes were marketed.
"there are some benefits to being connected"
Define 'being connected' because we're not talking about kids calling each other on a party line right now.
smoking has no benefits, regardless what marketing says.
being connected means the ability of my kids to talk to their friends.
we have no landline anymore. there are also no more payphones if you are outside. a computer or a mobile phone and online messaging are now the only way that my kids can communicate with others.
taking away that tool would be worse than the time when landlines were still common and kids could call their friends at home.
so simply banning social media is not going to work.
what we need is kid friendly communication tools that do not try to drive engagement but just let them send messages and call.
Sounds like you figured out the solution on your own.
this isn't hard
besides you have to consider that all the other kids will not be limited to such a phone.
we need to create communication tools that are "safe" but that kids actually like to use too.