Apple boss’s concerns for children and apps

APPLE boss Tim Cook has said there should be serious concerns about the effect of screen time on children’s mental health.

The chief executive also admitted he is ‘deeply worried’ about some of the apps available for Apple devices.

In an interview, he spoke about the problem of people spending too much time with their screens. But he said he was ‘not hearing’ that Apple’s devices themselves were addictive. It’s the apps that other people make for them that he is ‘deeply worried about’.

In a swipe at social media giants, Mr Cook said the real problem is the corrosive need to check ‘what the latest post is’ or tally ‘how many likes have I had?’

He said: ‘[Apple] is in a sort of unique position there, because we don’t measure our success by how much time somebody’s using our product. We don’t want you using our product all the time. You need to do other things in your life as well, right?

He also said that people were now becoming the product for advertising and that humanity is being lost. ‘If you have a model that is based solely on digital advertising that can lead you down a path where... the user is the product. The customer [for technology companies] is the advertiser and the desire is as many clicks as you can get,’ he told The Times of London. ‘The user is lost in that. Humanity is lost in that.’

Mr Cook has preiously said he doesn’t allow his nephew on a social network, remarking: ‘I don’t have a kid, but I have a nephew I put some boundaries on. There are some things that I won’t allow; I don’t want them on a social network.’

The Irish Daily Mail has been campaigning for a minimum age for smartphone ownership to protect children from the harm of the internet, social media and other perils.

In January two major Apple shareholders with a combined stake of approximately $2billion called on the California firm to respond to what they see as a public health crisis of young people addicted to smartphones.

Jana Partners LLC and the California Teacher’s Retirement system wrote an open letter to Apple.

‘More than ten years after the iPhone’s release, it is a cliche to point out that the ubiquity of Apple’s devices among children and teenagers as well as the attendant growth in the social media use by this group.’ the letter said.

‘What is less known is that there is a growing body of evidence that, for at least some of the most frequent young users, this may be having unintentional negative consequences.’

They said addressing this issue will increase the value of the company in the long-term ‘We believe that addressing this issue now will enhance long-term value for all shareholders, by creating more choices and options for your customers today and helping to protect the next generation of leaders, innovators, and customers tomorrow,’ they said.

The Mail’s campaign has been backed by experts as well as readers. The Mail has presented a petition signed by more than 2,000 readers to Communications Minister Denis Naughten calling for an age restriction on smartphones.

In January a Mail and Ireland Thinks poll found that 69% of people support a smartphone ban for under-16s, with 30% against and 1% having no opinion.