Apple will address kids’ iPhone addiction with enhanced iOS parental controls
Apple has a response of sorts to activist shareholders concerned about kids’ addiction to iPhones: Enhanced parental controls are coming to iOS.Previously:
Ahead of Apple’s annual shareholder meeting next month, Jana Partners and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) asked Apple this week for new software to let parents limit kids’ iPhone use, and to conduct a study on the effects of excessive phone use on mental health. With roughly $2 billion in Apple stock, Jana and CalSTRS were able to get Apple’s attention, leading the company to issue a statement reproduced in full below.
In short, Apple states that it has “always looked out for kids,” leads the industry in OS-level parental controls, and thinks “deeply about how our products are used and the impact they have.” Without providing any details or committing to the mental health study, Apple says that it has “new features and enhancements planned for the future, to add functionality and make these [parental control] tools even more robust.”
The issue of iPhone addiction — and portable device addiction in general — has been in the background for years, but recently benefited from additional attention. As noted in an earlier Reuters report, former Disney star Selena Gomez revealed that she’d canceled a tour due to depression she attributed to social media addiction, and a 2016 survey suggested that half of teenagers felt addicted to their mobile phones and were pressured to immediately respond to phone messages. The issue of how much parents should control their kids’ viewing habits — and thus their kids — has continued to percolate in popular media such as the TV show Black Mirror, without reaching a conclusive answer....MUCH MORE, including Apple's full statement
UPDATED—"Investors Push Apple to Develop Tools to Respond to Smartphone Addiction in Youth" (AAPL)
Counterpoint: "No, Apple Is Not Responsible For Your Kids' Smartphone Addiction"
