Social media is a big part of the problem but still a symptom of the same systemic issues that phones are a symptom off.

Modern Phones are pocket-sized personal computers that are heavily restricted in what users can do, heavily tailored to what consumption our corporate overlords want to maintain (social media being an example, predatory games another).

Just like social media (facebook) is near impossible to avoid because all your local businesses don’t have a website and only inform and communicate trough a social media page (thanks my partner still has an account) you cannot simply not own a phone because scanning qr codes is now often a required part of participating in society, often unexpectedly.