Groups want Apple to help control childrens' cell phones

[johnrae]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegar ... f6cf4a9088

Wow. Now I have seen it all. Parents need to control their own children. Are they scared to take the phone away themselves? Typical Liberal thinking. Blame Apple. The thing that doesn't surprise me is that the one group involves teachers retirement fund group. I can see why teachers would want this. Teachers ,for the most part , have the worst behaved children by far. They are so Liberal in thinking , that they are too scared to discipline their own children so they expect society to do it for them. If Apple does do this to the phones, it will have an easy function that the kids will know how to turn it off anyways.
Oh well.

[Queen K]

I don't think this has anything to do with "liberalism" or "Liberal" parenting.

The fact is that smart phone technology is taking over the World. We need them now more than ever and yet they are producing measurable negative effects on all age groups.

Even the parents. Maybe especially the parents.

What we have here is the makings of yet another parent bashing thread using Apple as the platform.

[Omnitheo]

Teachers have the worst behaved children? Lmao! Let me guess, the best behaved children are the ones who don’t have teachers? Who don’t receive an education?

[KK69]

I seem to agree with the o.p. My sister is a teacher and her kids are terrible. No rules in that house. The kids are the boss. I can see them using the feature on the cell phone as they are scared of their own kids.

[Omnitheo]

Amusing anecdotes. You might be surprised by which forum posters here had teachers for parents.

[Queen K]

OOOPPPss did I say "parent bashing thread"? I meant "Teacher bashing thread." My bad. I'll let that poster know this is going on.

Why the need for Apple to add controls on their phones?

Because they fear long term monetary losses. That's it. A financial group of billionaires is asking for this from Apple, not parents.

[Omnitheo]

https://gizmodo.com/activist-apple-inve ... 1821872542

Two powerful Apple shareholders want Cupertino to better protect children from the dangers of its addictive gadgets. But their motives may not be purely altruistic.

In an open letter to Apple published Monday, investment group Jana Partners alongside the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, outlined a long list of concerns about smartphone addiction among children and teens. Titled “Think Different About Kids,” the letter proposes Apple make fundamental changes to its line of devices to better protect kids.

Citing a broad range of adolescent research from UCLA, the American Psychological Association, and Harvard Medical School, among others, the letter highlights findings that link teens’ overuse of smart devices and social media with depression, poor self-image, and a lack of empathy. Children receive their first smartphone at age 10, the letter claims while asserting that Apple hasn’t done enough to understand how its devices affect children.

From the letter:

“For example, the initial setup menu could be expanded so that, just as users choose a language and time zone, parents can enter the age of the user and be given age-appropriate setup options based on the best available research including limiting screen time, restricting use to certain hours, reducing the available number of social media sites, setting up parental monitoring, and many other options.”

It’s certainly interesting that Jana wants Apple to engineer parental controls within the devices themselves. But frankly, there’s nothing stopping parents from doing any of the above already. Set house rules on phone use during breakfast or dinner. Tell them about bullying, and teach them about privacy. Figure out what a “Snapchat” is.



That Jana wants, among other sensible recommendations, a product upgrade hints at a profit motive. Jana Partners and California State Teachers’ Retirement System together own about $2 billion in Apple stock. Jana founder Barry Rosenstein, one of the letter’s signees, is a well-known activist investor, and historically, Jana’s recommendations result in staggering profits for the hedge fund.

In fact, one can imagine a marketing campaign for a potential update borrowing heavily from the same language and research of the letter itself: there’s abundant research on the long-term impact of smart devices on children, but none are a smoking gun for smart devices being harmful to children. Apple can tout its responsibility to protect children (without implying legal or financial accountability), setting off a new tech trend among competitors of family-friendly parental controls. With Apple at the helm.

Consumers may love the idea of automating this aspect of parenting and, as Jana Partners are certainly aware, so will investors.

[Queen K]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2018/01/08/two-investing-giants-ask-apple-to-help-parents-rein-in-iphone-citing-risks-to-learning-and-health/#39f6cf4a9088

Wow. Now I have seen it all. Parents need to control their own children. Are they scared to take the phone away themselves? Typical Liberal thinking. Blame Apple. The thing that doesn't surprise me is that the one group involves teachers retirement fund group. I can see why teachers would want this. Teachers ,for the most part , have the worst behaved children by far. They are so Liberal in thinking , that they are too scared to discipline their own children so they expect society to do it for them. If Apple does do this to the phones, it will have an easy function that the kids will know how to turn it off anyways.
Oh well.

Speaking of teachers, how about your reading comprehension skills? Should I point this out now or let The Green Barbarian point it out? The article isn't talking about the teachers OWN children. It's talking about data collected from teachers in regards to their children in their classrooms. I've Highlighted it in red for you. Now go write on the blackboard 100 times, "I will read the article more carefully next time."

On Monday, activist hedge fund Jana Partners and the $220 billion in assets California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) unveiled a groundbreaking shareholder effort that calls for Apple to take a serious look at how it can mitigate the potential negative effects of heavy iPhone usage among children. Jana and CalSTRS, which collectively own about $2 billion in Apple stock, argue doing so would enhance the iPhone dependent company's long-term business prospects, making Americans more comfortable with the rising usage of smartphones.

Citing evidence from the book iGen, written by professors at Harvard University and San Diego State University, and a recent study conducted by the Center on Media and Child Health and the University of Alberta, Jana and CalSTRS argue there's growing evidence digital technologies like the iPhone are curbing learning and creating negative emotional side effects for children. They cite alarming data such as the rising percentage of teachers who say their students are distracted by technologies like the iPhone. Teenagers who spend five hours or more a day on smartphones are likely to get less than seven hours of sleep a day, below the recommended nine, and have greater risk of suicide. Heavy teenage users of social media are more at risk of depression. Furthermore, data from the American Psychological Association points to an increasing unease among parents about their children's smartphone usage.

Bolded out in black is the veiled reference to how this whole article is in fact driven by billionaires concerned with falling market share, that they fear long term negative effects of loss market share from Apple, if other companies beat them to the technological innovations needed to protect the children, pre-teens and teenagers.

They fear monetary losses will come.

[Rider59]

Teachers have the worst behaved children? Lmao! Let me guess, the best behaved children are the ones who don’t have teachers? Who don’t receive an education?

That is not what was said. Go back and reread as necessary.

[GordonH]

Absolutely no one is forcing parents to give smartphones to their children, if the child/ren are not being responsible in the use of the smartphone.
Then simply replace it with a dumb phone/basic phone, can still make calls & text (with a little work).

Why should smartphone manufacturers have to become the childs nanny, that's the parents job.

[TylerM4]

I personally like what they are proposing. Now before some forum know-it-all tells me I'm an bad parent, I'll head you off at the pass:

I have no problem policing my kids and their smart phone use. I tell them to put it away and they do. My children are obedient and will listen when I tell them to put away. Having said that - It's still a pain to police. I'm not watching over their shoulders all day, I'm not counting the minutes, having them constantly ask if they can use their phones is annoying, etc. I'd love some sort of technology that gives me the ability to only allow them an hour a day. It would make policing a whole lot easier.

[Jflem1983]

*removed*

[mexi cali]

Absolutely no one is forcing parents to give smartphones to their children, if the child/ren are not being responsible in the use of the smartphone.
Then simply replace it with a dumb phone/basic phone, can still make calls & text (with a little work).

Why should smartphone manufacturers have to become the childs nanny, that's the parents job.

Give them phones with the extra long curly cord on it and then lets see how far they get.

[JagXKR]

Amusing anecdotes. You might be surprised by which forum posters here had teachers for parents.

Yes you would.
Back to the op.
The parents bought the phone for the kids but they want some else to control it? Um....how about the parents do their job? Rule number one, if your kid can't be trusted then don't buy them an iPhone. I realize for some parents and parental groups this may be a hard thought to process.
Maybe we need someone to control the parents.

[Smurf]

JagXKR » Today, 12:02 am

Yes you would.
Back to the op.
The parents bought the phone for the kids but they want some else to control it? Um....how about the parents do their job? Rule number one, if your kid can't be trusted then don't buy them an iPhone. I realize for some parents and parental groups this may be a hard thought to process.
Maybe we need someone to control the parents.

That fact shows up in a lot more places than the use of cell phones.