Apple CEO Tim Cook encouraged parents to limit screen time for their kids, something that seems counterintuitive to selling iPhones but nevertheless he feels is important.
During an interview with GQ magazine, Cook warned parents that kids are "digital" now, and suggested that "hard rails" are needed to make sure children do not spend too much time in front of a phone screen.
"Kids are born digital, they’re digital kids now. And it is, I think, really important to set some hard rails around it," Cook said after GQ Senior Staff Writer Zach Baron mentioned that his own young child is "obsessed" with his phone.
"We make technology to empower people to be able to do things they couldn’t do, to create things they couldn’t create, to learn things they couldn’t learn. And I mean, that’s really what drives us," the Apple chief continued. "We don’t want people using our phones too much. We’re not incentivized for that. We don’t want that. We provide tools so people don’t do that."
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Cook's comments come as studies have shown that too much screen time could alter children's developing brains and increase their risk for mood disorders.
About one third of youths spend more than four hours per day looking at phone, computer or TV screens, a recent study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions said.
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Kids ages 9 to 10 who spend more time in front of screens exhibited higher levels of depression and anxiety by the time they turned 11 or 12, researchers found.
Cook pointed out that Apple has developed tools for iPhone users to track their screen time. Parents can use the iPhone's Screen Time feature to generate activity reports, monitor how often their children pick up their device and which apps and websites they are using.
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"We try to get people tools in order to help them put the phone down," Cook told GQ. "Because my philosophy is, if you’re looking at the phone more than you’re looking in somebody’s eyes, you’re doing the wrong thing. So we do things like Screen Time. I don’t know about you, but I pretty religiously look at my report."
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While Cook says users ought to take periodic breaks from their phones, Apple is by no means slowing down smartphone sales. The company earned more than $205 billion in net sales for iPhones in 2022, which accounted for over 52% of total sales, according to Apple's fourth quarter financial report.
It was a record-breaking year for the iPhone.
