America mocked the Amish and other groups over technology. Maybe they were right

The irony was hard to miss last week.

The same day that a documentary (with more than 35 million views as of Sept.

2) portrayed Hasidic restrictions on smartphones and the internet as evidence of a backward, insular world, Meta agreed to a proposed settlement worth up to $17 billion with a coalition of states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed children through addictive design.

Meta denies wrongdoing.

As a kid, I spent enormous amounts of time outdoors, growing up near the Santa Monica Mountains and later in the rural mountains of Tehachapi, California.

I explored the hills, watched wildlife, fished, stared at the stars, listened to coyotes howl, and loved sleeping outside so much that sending me indoors for the night was my punishment.

Try that punishment on a child with a smartphone today.

A bedroom can contain a universe more compelling than anything outside: social media, YouTube, video games, group chats and an infinite stream of entertainment engineered to keep us hooked.

When our oldest daughter was one year old, she became so attached to her iPad Mini that she’d shake her crib, crying, "iPad! iPad! iPad!" when we took it away.

WE GREW UP BEFORE SCREENS TOOK OVER.

OUR KIDS DESERVE THAT CHANCE TOO In his documentary, Turkish filmmaker Ruhi Çenet takes viewers inside Hasidic communities in New York.

Again and again, their distance from modern technology helps establish just how unusual and insular their world appears.

"Have you ever watched television?" Çenet asks one man.

"Have you ever logged into the internet in your entire life?" He learns that some members regard unrestricted internet access as dangerous to religious life.