Stanford students put down their iPhones to protest device addiction

No, it doesn't have the impact of the student sit-in to protest the Vietnam war that took place at Stanford in 1966. But you might consider this to be the 21st Century version of that event. Students from the California university staged a protest this past weekend at the Apple Store in Palo Alto to protest device addiction. More specifically, the group (named Stanford Students Against Addictive Devices or SSAAD) were complaining that Apple wasn't doing anything to stop users from constantly checking their iPhone and iPad devices.

Holding signs in front of the store in protest of Apple's lack of action, the group is demanding that the company devise a way to stop owners of Apple's mobile devices from constantly checking the screens on the products in their hands. A graduating senior at Stanford, Sanjay Kannan, brought up the results of a 2016 poll conducted by Common Sense Media, which found that 50% of teens are addicted to their handsets while 69% of parents check their phones hourly.

SSAAD is asking Apple to include an app with the iPhone that can track "phone usage and clearly reports patterns." Currently, iPhone users can track how long they are using each app as a percentage of total battery usage over both 24-hours, and 7-days.

Back in January, Apple said "We are constantly looking for ways to make our experiences better. We have new features and enhancements planned for the future...we think deeply about how our products are used and the impact they have on users and the people around them." Apple did point out that users can set their iPhones to "grayscale mode," which removes color from the phone and makes the display less attractive to look at. But the SSAAD wants more. They would like to see Apple develop an "Essential Mode" which would disable all functions of an iPhone except for the phone, text and photos features.


source: StanfordDaily via AppleInsider