When my kids were young teens I used to take them in the evenings to a restaurant in the funky college strip in our hometown. Afterwards we’d sit on a bench and watch all the people calling to each other across the street, greetings, reunions, kids riding skateboards, a busker here and there. The place was full of an exuberance of life and dynamic social interactions.
Today sitting on the exact same bench at the exact same time of the evening is like being on the set of the walking dead. Phone zombies everywhere with no social interaction at all. None. Smart phones sucked the life out of it.
Replicated much, esp. in such areas, across the US. and beyond.