loneliness and disconnectedness are almost an epidemic, and no one wants to address it. Families splinter and scatter while it seems like jobs are less reliable and moving is more common. People are losing touch with faith communities and secular associations alike. Despite lower crime rate trends for decades, people seem more and more afraid. Meanwhile, although I agree social media has helped fill the gap, it is also a cesspool of algorithm-fueled echo chambers driving wedges between people. "If you disagree with me, you're a bad person who needs to be shamed and condemned!"
Social media is more of a plague, indeed. To the elderly, they may provide a false sense that they're still in touch, that they're still relevant. However, I know younger people who rely on their phones to forget how lonely and unhappy they are. Estranged couples sitting on the sofa, each looking at their screen.
People have been complaining about media causing estrangement and splintering of society since newspapers and dime novels, though. Everyone reading their own papers or books instead of talking and whatnot. Are we sure screen time is splitting people apart?
I don't think screens are the problem. I think it's more about lack of meaning in life, lack of purpose, inability to form meaningful relationships as people are increasingly detached from their own souls... people use screens to forget how lonely and desperate they really are.