“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.]