All this seems a bit overkill for something that can be solved with discipline and mindfulness (along with a good percentage of other changes that we may want to make in our lives).

That's part of the problem though. So many of these services, apps, and games are designed in such a way as to pull the levers and push the buttons of your brain to try and get you hooked, to continue to spend time and money on them. They're literally designed with the intention of trying to override our self control.

Newport's comparison with food is a great example. There's a lot of factors that contribute to obesity and poor health, but most people agree is that a large part of the problem is the food that's produced for us and how its priced and marketed to us. Lifestyle choices are crucial, but when your environment is saturated with bad options that are cheap, convenient, and enjoyable, its often hard to stick to those lifestyle choices. When viewed in that light, people with poor health due to lifestyle issues aren't necessarily sinful or lesser, more often than not they're just flawed humans living in an world that's designed to take advantage of those flaws.