As one of the world’s leading enablers of technology addiction, Apple also walks the fine line of helping to curb it. Features like Screen time, Downtime, Quiet Hours, App Limits, and Do Not Disturb represent Apple’s efforts to equip customers with the tools they need to use devices responsibly — and make their products better by helping people use them less.
Apple’s holiday ad for 2019, The Surprise, walks this very line, showing both the downsides of two young girls on a stressful holiday trip full of screen time and the upsides of the magic and creativity these devices unlock.
https://youtu.be/LDeRyyDrS40
Great Products that Enrich Lives
This same tension is evident in Apple’s mission to make great products that enrich people’s lives. Great products are behaviorally engineered to drive engagement and usage, which has led to technology addiction. We’ve written much on the topic of tech addiction here.
But these products also enrich people’s lives. They are the tools with which innovators change the world, make it more connected and more productive, create art and beauty, solve the world’s biggest challenges, and save lives.
We believe that technology itself is not the culprit; people’s use of technology, however, can be destructive. The magic is made in the balance of using these tools for good and not letting them consume us. They impact the world most when they aren’t being used.
Face Time vs. FaceTime
Tim Cook himself has said that it’s wrong to look at your device more than you look in someone’s eyes.
“We made the phone not so that you’d use it all the time; we made the phone to make your life better.” – Tim Cook
In the spirit of making someone’s holiday, remember that simple rule. More face time than screen time. Allow these devices and the magic they create the room they need to breathe and impact the world for good.
Recreation recreates us — literally, re-create. Give yourself the time and space you need to be with the people in your life that matter the most.
Happy holidays from Loup Ventures. We believe that technology cannot replace the human capacity to be creative, communal, and empathetic. These are the gifts that will make someone’s holiday!