These days you go out to restaurants, cafes, or bars, and more often than not you will find people with their faces buried in their phones, tablets, or laptops, despite the fact that they are out with friends or family. Some consider this an addiction, and some are also blaming the companies behind such devices for not doing enough to curb it.
This is pretty much what some students from Stanford did when they staged a protest out of Apple’s Palo Alto store, claiming that the tech company isn’t doing enough to prevent iPhone and iPad users from constantly checking their devices, and are urging them to come up with solutions that will prevent users from having this need to check their devices so often.
Speaking to the Stanford Daily, Sanjay Kannan who is part of the group that helped organize the protest said, “We felt that this is the kind of change that a lot of consumers have to demand before Apple takes sustained action.” He also suggests that if Apple makes changes, other manufacturers will follow suit.
“Historically, Apple has been the one to popularize new features and make them something that every phone consumer expects. Face ID is a good example. Other companies did it before Apple, but once Apple did it, it’s like [it became] something we all need to have.” The group has cited various studies which found some disturbing information, like how 69% of adults check their phones on an hourly basis, while 50% of teens admit to feeling addicted to their smartphones.