My rebuttal would be: it is not impossible to attribute causality, and THIS IS THE PROBLEM.
Right now, there are two identically possible situations (well, even more, but you get the jest):
A) smartphone -> depression
B) depression -> smartphone
But the author does not do a good job in explaining why he choose A instead of B, except "it feels logical to me".
It feels like a coin toss. (and sure, the author has some arguments, but they are arguably disputable, more than in other cases where the idea that there is causality ends up being adopted as a consensus)
It does not mean it is impossible to reasonably attribute causality. It just means that the author does a bad job at the "reasonably" part.
Right now, there are two identically possible situations (well, even more, but you get the jest):
A) smartphone -> depression
B) depression -> smartphone
But the author does not do a good job in explaining why he choose A instead of B, except "it feels logical to me".
It feels like a coin toss. (and sure, the author has some arguments, but they are arguably disputable, more than in other cases where the idea that there is causality ends up being adopted as a consensus)
It does not mean it is impossible to reasonably attribute causality. It just means that the author does a bad job at the "reasonably" part.