Joe Issa Supports Call for Smartphone Impact Research on Kids

Founder of Cool Corporation and a parent of two, Joe Issa, has supported a call for Apple to undertake research on the impact of smartphones on children, stating it is long overdue.

“We have had smartphones around for several years and we still do not know for sure what effect it is having on our kids who use them.

“With so much content in text and vedio we don’t know what our kids are reading and viewing and their appropriateness.

“We don’t even know if it is addictive or pose a health risk with prolonged use as has been said of electronic devices generally.

“And with the multitude of apps that are available on smartphones and their level of sophiscation in terms of functionality, parents will be challenged to control what their kids are exposed to and for how long.

“I think Apple will be well advised to do that research out of concern for our young, impressionable minds, which I also agree makes good business sense,” said Issa, who was referring to news that two large Apple shareholders say it needs to research the impact of smartphones on kids

In an article originally appeared on TechCrunch, two of Apple’s institutional shareholders, hedge fund Jana Partners and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), are said to have called on the company to study the impact of smartphone use on child development.

It cited an open letter, in which the two investors said that after reviewing research, they believe that Apple needs to give parents more resources and software tools to make sure their kids are using their devices “in an optimal manner.”

Although together, Jana and CalSTRS hold only $2 billion of the Apple’s current $898 billion market capitalisation, however, the letter is said to be noteworthy, because both investors are influential activist shareholders.

Jana Partners managing director Barry Rosenstein pushed Whole Foods to put itself up for sale before the grocery chain’s acquisition by Amazon last year, while CalSTRS, which manages retirement benefits for public \educators in California, is the second-largest public pension fund in the United States.

“In a letter signed by Rosenstein and CalSTRS director of corporate governance Anne Sheehan, the two shareholders said they worked with child development experts to review studies that found links between the use of electronic devices and negative effects on concentration, emotional health, sleep and empathy,” wrote the report.

It said that research done by psychologist and San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge was also included. Twenge is believed to have found that American teens who spend three or more hours a day on electronic devices are more likely to have a risk factor for suicide than their peers who use them for less than an hour a day.

The letter is also said to have rgued that making parents bear ultimate responsibility for their kids’ device and social media use is missing the point because parents still need the support of tech companies.

“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,” Rosenstein and Sheehan wrote, adding even though an American Psychological Association study found 94% of parents try to manage their kids’ technology use, “it is both unrealistic and a poor long-term business strategy to ask parents to fight this battle alone.”

“The two believe that current parental control features in software are ineffective because they force parents to take an “all or nothing approach” by only allowing them to prevent access to certain functions or features. Furthermore, they claim many apps designed to help parents monitor their kids’ tech consumption aren’t backed by strong research and don’t have the same impact as they would with Apple’s support.

“Jana and CalSTRS proposed several steps Apple can take, including tasking one of their executives (or hiring a new one) to focus on the issue and deliver annual reports, similar to its Environmental Responsibility Reports, for more transparency; creating a committee of child development experts; supporting researchers by giving them access to Apple’s information resources; and adding new setup menus and other options to software so parents can tailor functionality to specific age groups,” the article said.

“As one of the most innovative companies in the history of technology, Apple can play a defining role in signaling 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,” Rosenstein and Sheehan was quoted as saying.

TechCrunch is said to have contacted Apple for comment.