So this is what it has come to

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As someone who has spent the last 20 years teaching about technology, about its development and history, its use and impact on society, its capabilities and concerns, I have also attempted to impress upon people the importance of not becoming burdened by it or dependent upon it.

We've all seen the family at a restaurant - mother, father, kids - sitting around the table with their faces buried in some electronic device. That isn't good, it's not how a family unit is meant to interact. By allowing that, the risk is that it becomes the only way individuals know how to be, that the skill of communication, like a muscle that goes unused, starts to atrophy until it is all but lost. Then, when actual communication becomes required or necessary, the individual is incapable of response. As an additional clarification, this type of thing is not limited to the scenario I have provided here; texting someone in the same house or having a Facebook-based conversation with someone in the same room as opposed to talking directly to them are also examples.

Don't be like these people

Now, the fears I've had for almost two decades are, it appears, starting to come true. In a study conducted jointly by the University of Virginia and Harvard University, researchers asked subjects to sit in an empty room and do nothing, for periods ranging from six to fifteen minutes. Around fifty percent of those subjects indicated they really did not like that experience, so the researchers asked them to do the same thing at home. Most of the subjects admitted they cheated, and did so by checking their phone or tablet.

But the most shocking part (foreshadowing!) is that when given the opportunity, well over half of the men and a quarter of the women administered electric shocks to themselves rather than sit quietly, alone with their thoughts, and this was after admitting they would pay to avoid being shocked!

The issue I'm bringing up here, and the authors allude to as well, is that we have such short attention spans thanks to always-on and accessible digital devices, that a mere fifteen minutes alone in thoughtfulness and repose is, if not something completely adverse to us, something we would prefer less than to a self-administered electric shock. Perhaps that's why there's a market for this thing.
Keep in mind that people who tend to be dreamers, as well as people who are generally happy overall, did much better in the study than others.

The research itself is behind a paywall, however you can read more about it at Ars Technica, The Verge, and ScienceMag.org.