No seriously just before Covid about 2016/2017 there was a surge in people getting rid of their smartphones back to 'dumb phones'. https://www.bing.com/search?q=Why%20I%27m%20going%20back%20to%20a%20dumbphone&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=why%20i%27m%20going%20back%20to%20a%20dumbphone&sc=0-33&sk=&cvid=645D78A2242A48B3BC3F78BD7EB72F7D
I think the elites didn't like that so they used COVID as an excuse to make it so you literally have to have a phone to do anything such as timed tickets to MOST museums,phone pickup only. A few of our museums don't require timed tickets however........
Just experienced in Corvallis escaping the ice storm once where a pizza place would not let us order without an app so we went to another one and they had no issue and were shocked when we told them how snobby the restaurant was. This place however was happy to serve us unlike the other place and delivered directly to our hotel room at Best Western. The first pizza place should've done that we were even willing to pay an extra fee if necessary.
Be open to motives, having everyone on a smart phone makes some people a lot of money and gives others a burst of power. It's not necessary for covid to be involved.
I've never gone to smart phone. I have noticed that covid got used as an excuse for some things (like making menus in restaurants be qr codes glued to the table), but I believe it's just an excuse and that those things were coming regardless.
It's no problem for me to eat somewhere else if a restaurant refuses to show me a physical menu. If they all do it, I can cook my own food.