“Stanford Students Against Addictive Devices (SSAAD) staged a protest on Saturday outside of the Palo Alto Apple store on University Avenue. The student protesters claimed that Apple is failing to take steps to curb technology addiction,” Sophie Regan reports for The Stanford Daily. “They also demanded that the company adjust software features to mitigate users’ constant focus on their devices.”
“‘We felt that this is the kind of change that a lot of consumers have to demand before Apple takes sustained action,’ said Sanjay Kannan ’18. ‘We did some research into how prevalent the problem was, and we realized that 50 percent of teens are addicted to their phones, and 69 percent of adults check their phone hourly,'” Regan reports. “At the protest, SSAAD affiliates handed out fliers, which included a statement coauthored by members of SSAAD, enumerating their complaints and their demands for Apple. The statement cited three studies asserting that phone addiction increases stress, damages interpersonal relationships and reduces productivity, respectively.”
“The protesters said that by granting more control over notifications to users, Apple can help mitigate device addiction. iPhone users can currently choose to enable or disable different types of notifications, such as banners and badges for individual apps” Regan reports. “SSAAD members also said users should have more control over notifications they receive. Finally, SSAAD wants Apple to create a mode to reduce distraction. In their statement, SSAAD proposed an ‘Essential Mode,’ where an iPhone would only be able to perform essential functions like phone calls, text messages, and photos.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Here’s an idea: Put down your fscking phones once in a while, step out and sample the real world (not MTV reruns) where plenty of real problems worthy of “protests” exist and shove your “demands” up as far as they’ll go, sideways, you mollycoddled time-wasting bastages!
SSAAD is certainly an apt acronym. It describes our future in the hands of delusional babies such as these.
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Tim Cook on iPhone addiction, avoiding social networks, paying corporate taxes, and more – January 20, 2018
Two major Apple shareholders push for study of iPhone addiction in children – January 8, 2018
Researchers: Smartphone addiction creates imbalance in brain – November 30, 2017
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “BD” for the heads up.]
So student want Apple to invent low power mode? If only such a tool existed.
My bad. They should invent a tool called “do not disturb”. Wow. Apple should take notes.
Here’s an idea young people. Stop being habitually offended and upset and “victims”. Put you phones down and have a conversation. Or call a live person and have a conversation rather than look like a mindless idiot checking your social media and worrying who’s liked your latest dumb post.
BLASPHEMER!!
Seriously, I hope Stanford reevaluates whether these students have the intellectual capacity to attend that University.
So long as the tuition and dorm bills are paid, I doubt that will happen.
Free thought Sparky…
Remember that? They are allowed to be wrong… it’s important.
Well it looks like it worked… They can step away from their devices – Just needed a cause to to it.
Sorry, they lost me at “… and photos.”
Phone calls and texts can be essential and yes you can set that up on your iPhone.
Photos, essential? Really?
There are days where I wish a meteor would hit the earth and all technology and services would break down. Just long enough so all the helpless idiots would die off.
They lost me at “Stanford Students Against Addictive Devices,” but, then, again, I was born before the “everyone is a special snowflake” movement and I can therefore ID bullshit from the get go.
Your use of the derogatory term “snowflake” speaks volumes, similar to the people who use the term “fanboy” or “fanbois”.
I support what I believe to be the gist of your intent, which is good, old fashioned personal responsibility. Alcohol is addictive and it exists. But we are trying to educate people about it. The same goes for cigarettes and other tobacco products. We are attempting to arm people with knowledge to assist them in modifying their behavior. We are also eliminating predatory retail practices that target addicts of various types. All of that is fine.
Now, consider how this approach might apply to smartphones, in general, and the Apple iPhone, in particular. Consider how lifestyle plays a role. Consider how social evolution plays a role. Then work towards a solution. But going and whining about device addiction at the entrance of an Apple Store is just grandstanding for publicity’s sake. If you abrogate your responsibilities as a human being and citizen and choose to leave the solutions up to the corporations (any corporation, including Apple), then you are asking for trouble. You will get solutions like Joe Camel marketing cigarettes to kids and teens, for example. You will get menthol and other additives that enhance the addictive effects, not diminish them. You will get claims of smoothness and low tar making the product sound better and safer than it really is. So take responsibility and quit whining to your corporate masters for a fix.
… who gets bent out of shape over people using the term “snowflakes”?
Friggin’ asshole snowflakes like you. Suck it Nancy.
“social evolution” or are we in social devolution? If you think you are becoming addicted then shut the thing off, if you can’t” your problem. Real world
The addiction seems to be, largely, on the social media side. They would be better served to boycott Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat etc… but if they’re addicted.
I thought the last retard that Stanford admitted was Tiger Woods. Obviously, I was wrong.
https://www.metro.us/sports/lindsey-vonn-tiger-woods-nsfw-video-pics-nude-photos-link
If Timmy The Social Justice Warrior Cook wasn’t Apple’s CEO, he’d be right out there with them.
Well, they weren’t “addicted” while they were protesting, were they? Stupid freaking kids. Worst part is, I’m only 23, so a bit in that crowd too, but gosh these entitled kids that can’t even look into their settings and use common sense. Just because Do Not disturb doesn’t specifically say “useful for curving addiction” doesn’t mean you can’t be creative with it. Turn on DND during class hours, work hours, and just get taps on your wrist to let you know what’s going on, and interact with those. You can’t easily drive your supposed addiction when using the Apple Watch. I tried. The Watch sort of shows you what its for through experience. So shut up kids, and learn. Devin Prater Assistive Technology Instructor
, Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word, and Powerpoint instructor certified by World Services for the Blind
>
Does anybody take responsibility for their own actions anymore?
What a bunch of complaining idiots this country is producing
Oh FOR FCK SAKE! iAgree with MDN.
Also, what about going after the other platform with 87% of the mobile phone MARKETSHARE!?
SNOWFLAKES!!!!
WHY THE HELL DON’T YOU WHINERS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOU OWN ACTIONS AND STOP BLAMING OTHERS FOR YOUR STUPIDITY!?
UGH! MADDENING.
ΥYeah, me too.
When they wanted to label records with offensive lyrics, when they wanted to restrict television and video game content, I opposed that too.
When Republicans tried to make flag burning a crime, institute school prayer, and the like in the ‘80s and early ‘90s I opposed it.
All for the same reason… fascism can come from the right or the left. Eff Off! One’s legal behavior is their own issue.
It was Al Gore and Tipper Gore who championed the cause of putting “explicit lyrics” stickers on CDs. As you have conveniently forgotten or intentionally omitted from your post, perhaps you’d like to admit they are/were Democrats.
I see comprehension evades you, I did say from the right or the left….
The story behind the exploit labels…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/04/25/prince-purple-rain-darling-nikki-censorship-lyrics-tipper-gore-column/83466774/
I don’t call wayward youth stupid or snowflakes. They are guaranteed their rights under the same constitution that allows goeb and firstfool here to air their brainless political hogwash.
I am glad that labeling was brought up. Wise manufacturers label things so, no matter how obvious it is to the genius, average people can understand how stuff works. The hamburger pull down menu with no labesls: bad design. The full toolbar with option for user to display labels in plaintext for us to read: good design. You can see that over time Apple has labeled less and lost its intuitive gui sensibility. First somebody threw out the GUI guidelines, now look how bad itunes is.
In the larger sense, products aren’t just good design. They are necessary for everything we buy. Labels are the only way to keep the market efficient. For the few people still alive who have actually read and comprehended “The Wealth of Nations”, you know if seller and buyer don’t have access to equal information, then the market friction and games get out of hand. Therefore a nonprofit 3rd party ( ngo if you are viscerally opposed to democratically elected officials doing anything) must be on hand to officiate the marketplace. Labeling is good. Pollution controls are good. Legal means to make the messy agents clean up their messes is good. Mandatory labeling is not just the sign of good design, it defines a successful market from a corrupt one.
Apple might be less subject to these blowbacks if they were more transparent and spent the time to better label stuff and inform the user. Stop pretending that the average parent has a clue about how to effectively implement Apple’s patchwork of poorly designed parental controls. Apple put google Facebook and twitter into its iOS control panel to legitimize these bloodsucking social scourges for goodness sake. How stupid could apple be?
By the way, don’t forget to keep that plastic bag off your head, and stop eating Tide pods.
I remember it, I opposed it, and I was outraged at the imposition. This as a liberal.
Sounds like Parental Controls to me. Hmm…
I think they can just go buy a flip Phone – no one forced them to get an iPhone. Freaking idiots.
Leftist losers being losers and protesting winners. Just wanting free crap.
To be able to amit in Stanford, kids are very intelligent how come they acting stupid?.
Hey, the original article mentions MS Slate being addictive not one time, a great indicator as to its middling quality; No wonder Belichik slammed it into the trash.