When parents themselves also became addicted and decided it was easier to give their kids phones than to parent them.

This is bulk of the problem. Don't expect kids to do better when their role models screw up so badly. Sure some will come on top of their own parents but thats not the norm rather just an exception.

There is always the peer pressure excuse but thats not good enough. At the end who buys and setups and keeps paying for that phone?