Tech Backlash Grows as Investors Press Apple to Act on Children’s Use<br />professor, “it turns out that Apple is the company best positioned to act.”<br />In a statement, Apple said that the parental controls already on its devices “lead the industry” and<br />that “we think deeply about how our products are used and the impact they have on users and the people around them.”<br />“We take this responsibility very seriously,” the statement continued, “and we are committed to meeting<br />and exceeding our customers’ expectations, especially when it comes to protecting kids.”<br />Fears about technology addiction are not new.<br />A creator of the iPhone called the device “addictive.”<br />Now, two of the biggest investors on Wall Street have asked Apple to study the health effects of its products<br />and to make it easier for parents to limit their children’s use of iPhones and iPads.<br />“Companies have a role to play in helping to address these issues,” said Barry Rosenstein, managing partner of Jana Partners, an investment firm<br />that wrote an open letter to Apple this weekend pushing it to look at its products’ health effects, especially on children.<br />“Apple’s business model is not predicated on excessive use of your products,” Jana and Calstrs said in their letter to the company.<br />“We believe the long-term health of its youngest customers<br />and the health of society, our economy and the company itself are inextricably linked,” the investors said in the letter.
