Major Shareholders Want Apple To Address Negative Mobile Impact On Youth

Top Apple shareholders are calling on the company to consider the harmful effects of its mobile products among young users.

Jana Partners LLC and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System -- which currently control about $2 billion in Apple shares -- also want the tech titan to take specific actions to reduce potential harm to youngsters.

Those actions could include giving parents more effective means of restricting kid’s mobile access, the shareholders suggest in an open letter to Apple.

“There is a clear need for Apple to offer parents more choices and tools to help them ensure that young consumers are using your products in an optimal manner,” the investors explain.

Shaping their position, Jana Partners and CalSTRS said they sought council from Dr. Michael Rich, founding director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and Professor Jean Twenge, psychologist at San Diego State University.

Limiting users’ access to its products and services might not seem like a good business decision for Apple and its investors. Long-term, however, Jana Partners and CalSTRS argue that addressing users’ well-being now is ultimately the best thing for Apple’s bottom-line.

“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 suggest.

A growing body of research suggests that mobile technology is interfering with children's lives.    

One recently study -- conducted by the Center on Media and Child Health and the University of Alberta -- found that 67% of surveyed teachers observed that the number of students who are negatively distracted by digital technologies in the classroom is growing. In addition, 75% said students’ ability to focus on educational tasks has decreased.

Tech companies are increasingly willing to broach the possibility their products and services are harmful to users. At least among “passive” users, for instance, Facebook recently admitted that it might not be the healthiest pastime.

Citing a body of independent and internal research, as well as expert opinion, Facebook said that people who spend a lot of time passively consuming information (on Facebook’s News Feed, for instance) report feeling worse afterward.

To address the issue, Facebook recently made several changes to its News Feed to provide more opportunities for “meaningful” interactions, while reducing passive consumption of low-quality content.

The effort also included demoting content like clickbait headlines and fake news, as well as optimizing rankings, so posts from friends users care about most are more likely to appear at the top of their feeds.

Next story loading loading..