Children and iPhones Do Not Mix: Apple Investors

Two Apple investors are kick starting a campaign against the tech giant saying it needs to help reduce smartphone use in children with the creation of software tools.

Jana Partners and the Californian State Teachers’ Retirement System sent Apple a letter asking to build software to curb iPhone use in children and study the mental health impacts smartphones bring to children.

The letter was published in The Wall Street Journal stating, “Apple can play a defining role in signalling to the industry that paying special attention to the health and development of the next generation is both good business and the right thing to do. There is a developing consensus around the world including Silicon Valley that the potential long-term consequences of new technologies need to be factored in the outset, and no company can outsource that responsibility.”

Children and teenage phone use has always been a hot topic for researchers, parents and teachers especially when it comes to cyber bullying and mental health issues.

Jana Partners and the Californian State Teachers’ Retirement System says making a move now could reduce the risk of its stock price dropping.

Apple’s iPhones do have certain parental controls such as managing what apps and content their kids can watch however Apple has not offered a statement on to how parents should be optimising its controls or what is the best way to shield your children, it has also not given an age limit to the iPhone itself.