I think you are right about the bad effect of bars and taverns, but at least the bad parts were clearly separated from the rest. If someone spent 5 hours every day in a bar, they were clearly a low-status alcoholic. You won’t get the same social feedback for spending 5 hours a day scrolling on smartphone, especially if you do a large part of that in private. (With alcohol, drinking in private gave you even lower status than drinking in the bar.)
I think you are right about the bad effect of bars and taverns, but at least the bad parts were clearly separated from the rest. If someone spent 5 hours every day in a bar, they were clearly a low-status alcoholic. You won’t get the same social feedback for spending 5 hours a day scrolling on smartphone, especially if you do a large part of that in private. (With alcohol, drinking in private gave you even lower status than drinking in the bar.)