For the above you could
-listen to music
-talk to someone
-read a book, magazine, or newspaper
-text people (I assume we mean no social media, not no phones)
Now my nitpicks
- How long do you wait for gas? It's also an activity (assuming you aren't using full service)
-Camping is an activity
Sure you can come up with a scenarios where people are forced to be bored. Like waiting in a doctors office that you went to by yourself and they don't offer any reading material. Seems rare.
Let me offer another one: solitary confinement, what happens to people left alone with their own thoughts? They often go crazy.
"Phonecalls at least rely on speech instead of an algorithm deciding what to show you"
People participate in social media. Think of all the creative content that exists. In your example you compared a two way phone call with only one part of social media.
"Helping in a Soup Kitchen is obviously more productive than doom-scrolling."
Though subjective, I agree with you. However without social media how many 14 year olds were helping at soup kitchens instead of watching TV, playing video games, or outside playing. You implied that social media was impacting selfless benevolent acts.
This could even get complicated where I show that young people use social media in a positive way to call out social issues or make people aware of volunteer events.
"All of those examples are better uses of time than passively consuming "Social Media"
Again, social media doesn't have to be passive, your comment that I'm replying to and this reply show that.
I believe you are letting your cynicism impact your view of social media
TV and video games are also an option but as you implied you may not always have access to them.
However in what situation prior to the internet would a person be forced to be bored. Waiting at the DMV? I guess what I'm saying is it's pretty rare that someone wouldn't have an escape from bordem, even before phones.
Everytime there's some article about Netflix, Facebook, or the like there's a bunch of people telling everyone they quit and how their life is better, etc.
Many times the article isn't even about quitting social media, just some controversy. I wonder if some percentage of those people are right-wing and wait for a chance to jump in so they can harm companies they disagree with.