What you're describing is a dopamine rush. I get the same thing when I watch videos of games I was addicted to once. It's not the device itself that causes it.

As a counter-experience: I'm over thirty and only got a modern smartphone a few years ago. The thing is awful. The touch interface is finicky, even after long use. Holding the thing for an extended amount of time is uncomfortable, even after long use. UI design seems universally terrible. All the apps I tried were disorganized and didn't quite serve the purpose I had expected, but they did always give me way too many unlabeled buttons and random pop-ups to tap, and asked for my money/attention every few minutes. The Android OS is obscurantic and loves to give you completely meaningless things to tap: "Tap here to optimize your device", like fucking what? I downloaded a game that appealed to me with loot boxes and sexy characters, but after an initial "wow, phone hardware has come a long way," the novelty wore off very quickly. Frankly, I now loathe the thing. The amount of frustration I've had with it, and the idea that it will just become ever more mandatory as every asshole company and government office loves the idea of shoving you through exactly, for their purposes, calibrated UI that you can't control or argue with -- it outweighs any positive experience I've had from it by a large factor. I don't feel any magic feel-good screen powers, only irritation.

Well, yeah, but how is it not the device itself that causes it? I'm addicted to the dopamine rush from interacting with the device. The cause is both the addiction in my brain and the addictive properties of the device that gave rise to it in the first place.

I used a flip phone for a year after having had a smartphone for a decade and I felt similarly to you when I first went back to my smartphone. It was overstimulating and I hated it. I have always used an iPhone, though, and I find that they're a significantly better user experience than Android so I didn't notice the UX problems you described. More like the entire thing was just TOO MUCH COMING AT ME ALL THE TIME AHHHHHH! After a few months I was back to being addicted and it all felt normal again. I miss my flip phone a lot but life without a smartphone was just too annoying.

Basically, I despise my smartphone, but I'm still addicted to it. I use it even when I don't want to and when it prevents me from doing other things I'd rather be doing. I try to stop and eventually I always give in. It's a legitimate behavioral addiction and I believe the problem is both the design of specific apps and properties inherent to the device itself.

> Well, yeah, but how is it not the device itself that causes it? I'm addicted to the dopamine rush from interacting with the device.

You wouldn't blame trees or paper if you were addicted to some books. And I bet there would also be a set of books that you just couldn't stomach reading, due to how uninteresting to you they were (but were liked by others).

Are the trees and paper the problem? Is it the shape/format of a typical book? Or is it just certain kinds of books that you get addicted too? What about people who also like the type of books that you are addicted to, but they aren't addicted to them like you are? That sounds like a book type+personal problem to me, not a trees and paper problem.

I think that certain aspects of the design of some electronic devices, particularly phones and tablets, are a huge part of the reason why they're so addictive. I'm specifically thinking about the screen resolution, brightly colored displays, and interactivity. How many people have you ever met who feel they have an addictive relationship to their kindle? I think if phones were grayscale e-ink displays with limited interactivity and no ability to play videos they would be much less addictive. When I turn my phone to grayscale it's immediately much less compelling.

If someone developed a new form of paper and suddenly millions of people were hooked on books published on that particular paper — wildly different books and only books printed on that kind of paper — it would make sense to conclude that there might be something about the new form of paper that's contributing to the problem. I'm sure I'm not the only one who found social media less compelling when I could only access it on a desktop computer. In my opinion the design of smartphones and tablets is not something we can just ignore when thinking about how and why they might be addictive. The devices themselves are brain candy just like the apps that run on them.

  It honestly does feel like they have magic screen powers to influence your brain. You'd likely understand what I'm talking about if you'd ever owned one. 

Also anecdotally, my (infant) son is absolutely mesmerized by the sight of a phone screen. I don't let him see it generally, but if he casually spots a screen, it's like it's the only thing in the world.

That's so freaky to think about! I don't have kids but I've noticed a lot of the same things in myself. If I turn the display grayscale it's like it instantly loses 80% of its allure, which has me convinced that the bright colors are a huge part of why these devices are so mesmerizing to our lizard brains. I'd imagine that that has an extra strong pull for little kids who are already drawn to bright colors!

It was exactly like this for me as a kid in the 80s. Any time there was a screen it would grab my attention.

Of course we are talking about tube TV, something others in this thread are dismissing as not the same thing as smartphones.

I think the real reason is because it actually was the most interesting thing in the doctors waiting room. Does anyone really expect a dog-eared puzzle missing 40% of its pieces to hold a kids attention better than sesame street?