JUDY WOODRUFF: Smartphones have
surely changed the way we live,
including the way kids interact
with and use that
technology every day.
There are growing concerns about
what that is doing to kids.
And that is the focus that
John Yang has for us tonight.
It's part of our weekly
segment, Making the Grade.
JOHN YANG: Judy, earlier this
month, two big shareholders in
Apple jumped into this debate.
Together, JANA Partners,
an investment management
firm, and the California
State Teachers Retirement
System own about $2 billion
worth of Apple stock.
They called on the iPhone
maker to come up with ways for
parents to restrict the amount
of time children spend on
iPhones and to study the effect
heavy usage has on kids' mental
health.
To discuss this, we're
joined by Charles Penner,
a partner at JANA Partners,
and by Jean Twenge,
a San Diego State University
psychology professor and
the author of "iGen: Why
Today's Super-Connected
Kids Are Growing Up Less
Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less
Happy, and Completely Unprepared
for Adulthood."
Thanks to you both
for joining us.
Dr. Twenge, let
me begin with you.
I think I know the answer from
what -- from the title of your
book, but what can you tell
us about what the research
says about kids and iPhones?
JEAN TWENGE, Author, "iGen": So,
iGen is the first generation to
spend their entire adolescence
with smartphones.
And that's had ripple
effects across many
areas of their lives.
And one place that's showing
up is in their mental health.
So, right around 2012, in these
big samples of teens, there
was a sudden and pretty large
jump in symptoms of
depression and anxiety
and even clinical-level
depression and suicide
among teens.
And that happened right
at the same time that
smartphones became common.
So, there's also lots of studies
showing links between mental
health issues and time spent
on electronic devices,
such as smartphones.
So, for example, teens
who spend five or more
hours a day on electronic
devices are 71 percent
more likely to have at least
one risk factor for suicide
compared to teens who spend less
than an hour a day.
JOHN YANG: And what makes
smartphones different from,
say, television or video games?
JEAN TWENGE: Well, smartphones
can be carried into the bedroom.
They're more portable.
So, they may
interfere with sleep.
And, sure enough, the percentage
of teens who don't sleep
enough also spiked right around
2012.
And that's a major risk factor
for mental health issues.
They can also be carried out
of the house wherever you go.
So that means that teens are
often spending lots of time on
those devices even when they
are with their
friends in person.
So, with that said, of course,
TV and video games are also
linked to mental health issues,
but the link isn't quite as
strong as it is for smartphones
and for social media.
JOHN YANG: And I know you
have said there are some
beneficial aspects to smartphone
use by kids.
Is there sort of a sweet spot?
How much is too much
time on an iPhone?
JEAN TWENGE: Yes, that's right.
So, teens who don't use digital
media at all or don't use
smartphones at all are actually
a little less well adjusted than
teens who use them a little bit.
So the sweet spot seems to
be from less than an hour to
an hour or so of use a day.
And it's two -- it's more
than two hours, so three hours
of use and beyond per day,
that is linked to that
considerably higher
risk of depression and
other mental health
issues.
JOHN YANG: Mr. Penner, let me --
I want to bring you into this.
What sparked this
letter to Apple?
And we think of activist
shareholders as talking
about management
changes and direction of
business.
What sparked this letter?
CHARLES PENNER, JANA Partners:
We think Apple is a really
responsible company, a really
innovative company.
And I think a testament
to that is how quickly
we reacted to this.
But we did see an opportunity
for them to both get out ahead
of what we saw as potentially
a developing issue and,
quite frankly, burnish
their brand with customers
by offering parents
optional controls, but better
controls that are more robust,
in their words, more dynamic,
as Professor Twenge has been
talking about, and really kind
of respond to the research.
JOHN YANG: You talked
about Apple's response.
In their statement, they said
that they are always looking
out for kids, but they focused
on restricting downloading apps
and material, reaching material
online, accessing material
online, not limiting the
amount of time on it.
Are you satisfied
with that response?
CHARLES PENNER: Well,
look, it was certainly
a great first response.
And we didn't expect
anything different.
They're a very socially
responsible company.
I think the next step will be
to, as we said, kind of take
the experts, you know, Professor
Twenge, other people we have
worked with, including Dr.
Michael Rich at Harvard and
Boston Children's Hospital
and a ton of other people who
are experts on this issue, and
even more broadly just child
development experts, you know,
sit in a room with them, broaden
the discussion beyond
just kind of the engineers
and the business folks
and the design team,
and really kind of redesign
the controls from the
ground up to be dynamic,
to be age-appropriate.
You know, as I think Professor
Twenge has maybe mentioned in
other contexts, the research
shows that even for the most
worrisome aspects, like social
media usage, the effects start
to taper off the older you get.
So, you know, really kind of
look at all the research and
execute on what they have said
they're going to do, which is
offer more robust controls.
And we don't have any reason
to think that they won't.
JOHN YANG: Jean Twenge,
what kind of controls
would you want to see
iPhone -- or Apple develop?
JEAN TWENGE: Yes.
Well, both based on the research
and, as a parent of three
iGeners, I have my wish list.
So, one would be some kind
of way to shut down the phone
at a certain time, say, an
hour before bedtime, and then
there's not the temptation
to be on it right before bed,
which isn't conducive to good
sleep, or in the middle of
the night, which is what some
teens do.
Second would be to limit the
overall time in a day that
that phone could be used, say,
to two hours a day.
And then the third would be,
instead of being able to just
turn on and off certain apps,
that there would be
the capability to have
certain apps be only
used for a certain amount
of time per day.
So, for example, you could say,
OK, you can be on Snapchat,
but only for an hour a day
or a half-hour a day.
JOHN YANG: Well, Jean Twenge
and Charles Penner, I'm afraid
our time is up here, but thanks
so much for joining us.
CHARLES PENNER: Thank you.
JEAN TWENGE: Thank you.