Investors Urge Apple To Curb Childhood Social Media Addiction
In an age where technology is becoming intrinsically connected to every aspect of our lives, some are starting to grow concerned about the increasingly younger age at which we introduce our children to smart phones and gadgets – including two of Apple’s biggest investors.
In a Jan. 6 letter sent to Apple from investors Jana Partners and The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the shareholders expressed concern over childhood addiction to social media and electronic devices. The two groups urged Apple to offer parents more choices and tools to help ensure that kids use the company’s products in an “optimal manner.”
The letter acknowledged the pervasiveness of Apple products among children and teenagers, and the unintentional negative consequences that may be coming from the omnipresence of social media in young people’s lives.
The letter likely comes in response to viral videos of a former Facebook vice president who has been vociferous in his regret for the role he played perpetuating social media’s impact on our society. A number of media outlets have posted videos of Chamath Palihapitiya, former VP for user growth at Facebook, for his comments stating that social media is destroying society with dopamine-driven feedback loops.
Jana Partners LLC, a hedge fund started by activist investor Barry Rosenstein, touts itself as being an actively engaged shareholder that specializes in event-driven investing. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world that represents nearly a million public school educators. Together the two investors own a $2 billion stake in Apple.
The investors’ letter to Apple cited a number of statistics showing the negative impact that the role of social media and technology has on youth. It says that in the past 3 to 5 years since personal technology has entered the classroom, 90 percent of teachers said the number of students with emotional challenges has increased and 86 percent of teachers said that the number of students with social challenges has increased.
The letter also pointed to increased rates of depression, sleep deprivation, and suicide risk factors in children and teenagers spending significant time on social media and electronic devices.
In response, Apple has promised to introduce new features and tools to help parents and teachers curb the extensive use and addiction to these technologies.
About the Author
New Study Could Show Why Kids Are Creative Geniuses
Most young children show signs of creative genius, but over time those numbers drop significantly.
A new study on how young children learn could help parents teach their children and help answer the question of nature versus nurture. In 1968, a study conducted by George Land and Beth Jarman found that 98% of children were considered creative geniuses by NASA standards.
But as this group grew older, that number dropped off rapidly; at age 10, it fell to 30 percent, by age 15 it dropped to 12 percent, and by adulthood, it was just two percent. Today, researchers at Birkbeck University in London are using brainwave scanning caps to look inside the brains of kids while they complete various tasks.
Artie Wu, an expert on parenting, relationships, and finding your bliss, weighs in on the subject.
“Children come out, they see the world as it is —they don’t know — there’s no filter between brain and mouth,” Wu said. “But this is the genius view, they see the world as it is, not as it should be. The aperture has not tightened down, they just see everything as it is, and they say it. We typically need to do some bit of trimming, training, and educating for them to be able to get along in life. (But) the way we do the enforcement is through shaming.”
