Investors Urge Apple to Do More to Protect Children From Smartphone Addiction [Updated]

[TheSkywalker77]

The amount of 8-12 year olds holding an iPhone 7 or even X is crazy these days. Their parents are staring at a screen too so it's the child's phone. I see no reason for an 8-12 year old needing a phone. And iPod Touch I can understand. But not a full-fledged phone.

 

[Osamede]

Nope, I don’t think the iPhone or iOS is addictive by design. Apple doesn’t care if you use their product one hour, half an hour, or ten hours a day. They just want you to be happy enough to keep buying from them.

Again this is not about “beliefs”or faith or wishes. The science and psychology says we have a problem here.

As for the person above who want to put it all on individuals, that don’t work - I mean I can handle my liquor personally but that doesn’t mean it’s not an addictive substance or that it shouldn’t be covered by govt regulators and industry ethics regarding its contents, marketing and usage!

 

[Michael Goff]

Again this is not about “beliefs”or faith or wishes. The science and psychology says we have a problem here....

I haven’t actually read any source from an actual scientist. It is just generally BS news articles from idiots.

 

[Sevendaymelee]

The amount of 8-12 year olds holding an iPhone 7 or even X is crazy these days. Their parents are staring at a screen too so it's the child's phone. I see no reason for an 8-12 year old needing a phone. And iPod Touch I can understand. But not a full-fledged phone.

I use to feel the same way until I read that kidnapping is down significantly since the rise of smartphones. As an adult, I don't need one but a twelve year old girl forced to walk home from school having the ability to call 911 the moment she sees a strange car shadowing her is a good thing imo.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

I use to feel the same way until I read that kidnapping is down significantly since the rise of smartphones. As an adult, I don't need one but a twelve year old girl forced to walk home from school having the ability to call 911 the moment she sees a strange car shadowing her is a good thing imo.

You're not wrong there. But I still see no reason for it to be an iPhone X or even 7, an SE or 6 would be a good one for a first phone for a 12-13 year old.

 

[I7guy]

You're not wrong there. But I still see no reason for it to be an iPhone X or even 7, an SE or 6 would be a good one for a first phone for a 12-13 year old.

That’s for the parent to decide, isn’t it? You can get your kids what you decide is best.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

That’s for the parent to decide, isn’t it? You can get your kids what you decide is best.

Yea I realise this. I have nothing against the parents for doing it, it just seems a bit like overkill imo. But it is the parent's choice in the end.

 

[jonblatho]

You are right, it is creepy but today in Asia it is quite the norm.

Come to any famous touristic spot in Asia like Bangkok,Hong Kong,Taiwan,Singapore,Japan,Etc.. and you will see that this happens every where. In fact you see see security cameras pretty much every where doing the same thing as well.

There’s a pretty big difference between security cameras and some random person on their phone discreetly taking photos of people.

 

[Endorphine88]

Here's the deal: I grew up in the 90s and my parents never limited my access to technology. Video games, TV, cell phones, computers etc. A lot of you are saying it's the parents' responsibility. True, but to an extent. An environment is created by a lot of factors and it doesn't just fall on the parents. This addiction is also omnipresent, not just with kids, but with adults as well. It's a combination of environment and each person's proclivity to allow a cell phone to take over their life.
My house looks like BestBuy and the Apple store threw up all over, but I still make a conscious choice to disconnect frequently and to spend time outdoors or at the gym - any other way than a screen. It boils down to personal awareness and making sure you use technology instead of it using you.

 

[Michael Goff]

I decided to look at some of these articles that say smartphone addiction is real. And I died inside.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/aliceg...n-is-real-and-so-are-its-mental-health-risks/

Most of the students, who could plan what day they’d give up their phones, felt some degree of anxiety. They didn’t know what to do with the extra time, from eating breakfast to riding on public transportation.

Oh no, people don’t know what to do when their primary form of entertainment is taken away! Addiction! I mean, sure, it’s really that heavy use of personal computing devices has trained us to always be wanting stimulus. But if I shout addiction, I get attention.

An earlier study, in the U.S., which also had young people give up their phones, found that they performed worse on mental tasks when they were in “withdrawal,” and felt physiological symptoms, like increased heart rate and blood pressure. They also felt a sense of loss, or lessening, of their extended self—their phones.

Wait. I’m like that when I don’t have my keys. Oh no, I’m addicted to my keys. Whatever will I do!?

Though it’s only a correlation, the team found a tight relationship between mental health issues and a rise in “new media screen activities.” About 48% of those who spent five or more hours a day on their phones—a lot of time by any measure—had thought about suicide or made plans for it, vs. 28% of those who spent only one hour per day on their phones.

So it’s social media and not smartphones. Twitter existed before the smartphone. Facebook existed before the smartphone.


Edit: I could have gone on, but what was the point? The article is just a bunch of “give me attention”.

 

[cmaier]

The amount of 8-12 year olds holding an iPhone 7 or even X is crazy these days. Their parents are staring at a screen too so it's the child's phone. I see no reason for an 8-12 year old needing a phone. And iPod Touch I can understand. But not a full-fledged phone.

My kid has an iPhone, an iPad and an Apple Watch. Every weekend I teach her and other girls how to code in swift. She codes, designs picture collages, takes photographs of interesting things she finds during the day, and creates worlds in Minecraft. She uses quizlet to do her homework. She FaceTimes with grandparents and cousins on the other coast. She reads an hour a day in kindle.

It’s all fine.

Everyone assumes that when the next generation has a different set of behaviors it must be bad. When I was her age I spent my time on baseball cards, mad magazine and legos. Was that so much better?

 

[smacrumon]

What? Parents aren’t using the device, but they’re probably the ones buying them. It’s like saying that Tide needs to make their Pods less edible because some kids ate them. I’m sorry, no. It’s not Tide’s fault that kids ate the Pods.

Apples products should do no harm. If they are, it's time to return to the drawing board. Issues around addiction are sole responsibilities of manufactures. If the products are highly addictive, the design is wrong. Apple needs to fix the design.

 

[Michael Goff]

Apples products should do no harm. If they are, it's time to return to the drawing board. Issues around addiction are sole responsibilities of manufactures. If the products are highly addictive, the design is wrong. Apple needs to fix the design.

Wrong. It is only their responsibility if it is designed to be addictive. And smartphone addiction isn't a thing anyway. It's just the next thing people like using that other people can scapegoat.

 

[Osamede]

Wrong. It is only their responsibility if it is designed to be addictive. And smartphone addiction isn't a thing anyway. It's just the next thing people like using that other people can scapegoat.

No, if you make a product with known harmful effects, it's your job to do something about it.

It's fine if you say you didnt know, but once new knowledge emerges you need to man up and do something.

 

[I7guy]

No, if you make a product with known harmful effects, it's your job to do something about it.

It's fine if you say you didnt know, but once new knowledge emerges you need to man up and do something.

And to that end Facebook should be shutdown because your kids aren’t addicted to staring at the weather app.

Apple shouldn’t have to do anything. This is a product of the digital age and parenting and self-control.

 

[Osamede]

And to that end Facebook should be shutdown because your kids aren’t addicted to staring at the weather app.

Apple shouldn’t have to do anything. This is a product of the digital age and parenting and self-control.

Actually the science says theses devices are addictive. It’s not a matter of religion or subjective belief.

As such a company that maor s devices and has an App Store, is in the business of making money on what is potentially addictive behaviour.

 

[I7guy]

Actually the science says theses devices are addictive. It’s not a matter of religion or subjective belief.

As such a company that maor s devices and has an App Store, is in the business of making money on what is potentially addictive behaviour.

Right, which is virtually any digital device. Heck, my tv has an App Store. However I stand by my comment, parenting and self-control doesn’t need science. Common sense rules.

 

[Osamede]

Right, which is virtually any digital device..

Actually, no. Not in the same way.

Go educate yourself on the research. Common ignorance is no substitute for a grasp of behavioural science. Or it least on the learnings we have from it.

 

[I7guy]

Actually, no. Not in the same way.

Go educate yourself on the research. Common ignorance is no substitute for a grasp of behavioural science. Or it least on the learnings we have from it.

You have no point. resorting to insults proves that. Common sense trumps everything. It’s no secret these internet connected devices have become new nannies with Facebook being an enabler as it’s the biggest time waster on the internet.

Finally did you ever see a child plastered in front of a tv, especially a so called smart tv?

 

[Osamede]

Common sense trumps everything.

No, actually facts and science do, not common ignorance.

It’s no secret these internet connected devices have become new nannies with Facebook being an enabler as it’s the biggest time waster on the internet. Finally did you ever see a child plastered in front of a tv, especially a so called smart tv?

Many things have some addictive qualties. But you'll need to go educate yourself on these particular ones, rather than aiming to hide behind popular ignorance.

When people talk about ethics and regulation, its from a basis of what the facts say

 

[Michael Goff]

No, if you make a product with known harmful effects, it's your job to do something about it.

It's fine if you say you didnt know, but once new knowledge emerges you need to man up and do something.

I completely disagree. Every single thing on Earth has at least one known harmful effect. And like I said, this whole thing is crap anyway.

 

[smacrumon]

Wrong. It is only their responsibility if it is designed to be addictive. And smartphone addiction isn't a thing anyway. It's just the next thing people like using that other people can scapegoat.

And cigarettes aren’t addictive...
Smart phone addiction exists whether you’d like to acknowledge it or not. Apple can ensure its devices do no harm. Currently their devices and the apps it offers through the App Store do harm.

 

[Michael Goff]

And cigarettes aren’t addictive...
Smart phone addiction exists whether you’d like to acknowledge it or not. Apple can ensure its devices do no harm. Currently their devices and the apps it offers through the App Store do harm.

Cigarettes have an addictive chemical. Smartphones are not addictive. There is nothing Apple can do to fix this non-issue. People really need to take a tiny amount of responsibility for their own actions.

 

[Osamede]

Smartphones are not addictive. There is nothing Apple can do to fix this non-issue.

The science says it’s an problem. An addictive problem. “Responsibility” is not the full story, then.

 

[Michael Goff]

The science says it’s an problem. An addictive problem. “Responsibility” is not the full story, then.

I haven't seen the scientific consensus on this one. I'm willing to be proven wrong, though.