Could smart phones be viewed as an analogy to farcasters?

We learn that the Technocore is using farcasters for their own benefit while pretending to offer humanity the tech to make them as a sign of partnership, and to help us expand. On the surface, they are fantastic and offer us the chance to have a profoundly interconnected wide spread civilization. Without a doubt, they are cool. But, in the opinion of the ousters, they are holding us back and ultimately become a vulnerability in the hegemony’s society.

I see modern smart phone usage as a slightly similar relationship. They are fun, they connect our world in a way we never have been before. We depend on them for critical functions across the world, they are completely ingrained into many peoples daily life. The lives of the citizens of the hegemony are similarly dependent on their farcasters. Much more dependent, but similarly dependent none the less.

But as many studies and anecdotal experiences show, smart phone usage can be horrible for our individual and collective health. To be specific, social media is the root cause of these symptoms and our phones gives us access to those platforms.

I could see big tech being viewed as the technocore in this analogy. Phones and social media are advertised as a powerful tool, which they are. Meanwhile big tech uses them to skim our data, manipulate our algorithms, and at times bend our opinions to their will. Some would say this tech serves the companies providing it more than it does the users. The intent behind that is a whole other discussion, I’m looking at this at a surface level for discussion.

Are smart phones the current day farcaster?

Thank you for reading! I’m on book 4, and love this series.