True. The damage to the attention span of our younger generations is another aspect of damage done, with consequences still in the early stages of even being acknowledged.
What has been your experience, when these young people get together and actually manage to strike up a conversation, with having one of their phones indicate they just got a message or similar? Can they keep their focus on the person they are talking to? Or do you find most simply seem incapable of not turning away to check on what notice they just got?
Not to be crass, but Pavlov's Dogs come to mind. The lack of regard and respect for those with whom they are supposed to be sharing good company is just another aspect of the same fundamental problem.