Investors Tell Apple Tools Needed To Combat Kids' Tech Addiction

CUPERTINO, CA — Citing studies showing teens’ risk for suicide and other risky behaviors increases with smartphone use, two of Apple’s institutional investors, hedge fund Jana Partners and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), have asked the technology giant to increase parental controls on their devices and study the effect of smartphone use on child development.

In a letter Saturday, the two investors said a review of emerging evidence shows “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 letter was signed by Barry Rosenstein, managing partner of JANA Partners LLC, and Anne Sheehan, director of corporate governance for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the second-largest public pension fund in the country.

Together, the two institution hold a total of about $2 billion in Apple shares. Their letter speaks to “growing societal unease about whether at least some people are getting too much of a good thing when it comes to technology, which at some point is likely to impact even Apple.”

The two institutions collaborated with 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 M. Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State University and author of the book “iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy-and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood-and What That Means for the Rest of Us.”

Rosenstein and Sheehan said that while not conclusive, studies suggest that in the past five years, students are increasingly distracted by their devices in the classroom, suffer from sleep deprivation that interferes with learning, are more socially withdrawn, and are more prone to depression and suicide.

They cited research showing that, on average, American kids get their first smartphones at age 10 and teenagers spend about 4.5 hours a day on them, excluding the time they spend texting and talking. More than three-fourths of teens check their phones at least once an hour, and 50 percent reported feeling “addicted” to their phones.

Arguments that parents are ultimately responsible for their children’s smartphone use “miss the point,” Rosenstein and Sheehan wrote, because parents still need the support of tech companies.

“It would defy common sense to argue that this level of usage, by children whose brains are still developing, is not having at least some impact, or that the maker of such a powerful product has no role to play in helping parents to ensure it is being used optimally,” Rosenstein and Sheehan wrote in their open letter. “It is also no secret that social media sites and applications for which the iPhone and iPad are a primary gateway are usually designed to be as addictive and time-consuming as possible, as many of their original creators have publicly acknowledged.”

Current controls are ineffective, Rosenstein and Sheehan wrote, because they require an “all or nothing approach” that require parents to either shut down or allow full access to various tools and functions. A “dizzying array” of apps offer more options, but it’s unclear how much research has gone into their development, few offer a full suite of options available research suggests are needed and “they are clearly no substitute for Apple putting these choices front and center for parents,” they wrote.

The amount of time their children spend on their devices is a concern to parents. Of 3,500 U.S. parents surveyed by the American Psychological Association, 58 percent said they worry about the influence of social media on their children’s physical and mental health, 48 percent said regulating screen time is a “constant battle,” and 58 percent said they felt their child was “attached” to a smartphone or tablet.

There is plenty of research to back up their concerns.

In the past three to five years since digital technologies entered the classroom, 67 percent of more than 2,300 teachers surveyed by the Center on Media and Child Health and the University of Alberta reported an increase in the number of students negatively distracted by the devices, 75 percent said students ability to focus on educational tasks has decreased, 90 percent said the number of students with emotional challenges increased and 86 percent said the number of students with social challenges has increased.

One junior high teacher responding to the survey noted: “I see youth who used to go outside at lunch break and engage in physical activity and socialization. Today, many of our students sit all lunch hour and play on their personal devices.”

Twenge’s research points to an increase in suicidal behavior among U.S. teenagers who engage in more than one hour of screen time a day. Those who spend three or more hours a day are 71 percent more likely to think about suicide than those who spend less than an hour on their devices, and those who spend five or more hours a day are 71 percent more likely to have risk factors for suicide.

The same research shows eighth graders who are heavy users of social media are at 27 percent higher risk of depression, while those who exceed the average time spent playing sports, hanging out with their friends in person or doing homework are at significantly lower risk.

Apple did not immediately return Patch’s request for comment. If we hear back, we’ll update this story.

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