Two of Apple’s main activist shareholders have urged the company to examine the addictive qualities of the iPhone among children, reports the Wall Street Journal. In an open letter dated 06 January, Jana Partners and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), called on Apple to create ways for parents to study the impact of smartphone use on the mental health of their children and to restrict their access to their mobile devices. “There is a growing body of evidence that, for at least some of the most frequent young users [smartphone use] may be having unintentional negative consequences,” said the letter from the investors, who together control around USD 2 billion in Apple shares.
The investors referred to the “growing societal unease” that phones are replacing old-fashioned human interaction in teenagers, adding that “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.”Apple has yet to offer public guidance to parents on how to manage children’s smartphone use but it does give them the ability to choose which apps, content and services their children can access.
