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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 13 2018, @02:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the sent-from-my-iphone dept.

Teenagers are averaging over 4.5 hours per day dorking around on their smartphones, not including time spent texting or talking. So over at Techdirt Glyn Moody writes about the question specifically asked to Apple about what to do about gadget addiction among youth.

In an open letter to Apple, two of its major shareholders, Jana Partners and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, have raised concerns about research that suggests young people are becoming "addicted" to high-tech devices like the iPhone and iPad, and the software that runs on them. It asks the company to take a number of measures to tackle the problem, such as carrying out more research in the area, and providing more tools and education for parents to help them deal with the issue. The letter quotes studies by Professor Jean M. Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State University, who is also working with the shareholders in an effort to persuade Apple to do more


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  • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday January 13 2018, @03:37AM (1 child)

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Saturday January 13 2018, @03:37AM (#621677) Homepage Journal

    Is, of course, to sell more gadgets.

    The gadget sellers are in the business of -- wait for it -- selling gadgets. And when they sell more gadgets, business is good.

    The agglomerations of people and resources that we call "corporations" exist to maximize profit, not address societal issues.

    So why even try talking to those folks? If there's a problem with your kid, then it's *your* responsibility to address it with that kid.

    I imagine that most parents are grateful for those 4.5 hours a day. Before mobile/wireless devices, many parents would plop their kids down in front of the television for at least that long every day.

    Are there some kids who will have problems interacting with others because their babysitter is a mobile/wireless device? Yes.
    Did kids who were just as ignored by their parents when TV was the babysitter have similar issues? Yes.

    The problem is bad parenting, not the mechanisms parents use to pacify their children so they don't have to deal with them.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 13 2018, @04:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 13 2018, @04:15AM (#621693)

    tl;dr: profit