The Phone Is Not The Problem

This week is when I try to figure out what makes sense about 

people, 

who have bought a product, 

criticizing the company that makes the product, 

because people are getting too much use out of the product they bought. 

What chapter of The Modern Capitalism Handbook deals with this?

"What Is She Talking About?"

If your kid is addicted to her iPhone, doesn't that seem like a problem that would be solved not by the iPhone's maker, but by you, their actual parents? To my ears, the crazy is busting out with this aggressive blaming, specifically of the device, and the company. In the BLOGCAST video I talk about my mom limiting my TV, but same goes true for the phone. Like when I was twelve and called all those "story lines" and then my mom got a huge big phone bill and so I was banned from the phone when she wasn't home. I certainly didn't get my own phone. I couldn't be trusted, no phone for me. Now, with this "study" that they're demanding of Apple. What do we expect the data will show, hmmmm? I'd expect the results will start off showing phone use across OX, how many hours a day, using what platforms, which apps, and it'll show the geo-locations of all these children. Here's my question: shouldn't every mom and dad already be in control of knowing all that stuff about their own actual kid's phone use, especially the fallout, which is: should they be using the phone this much? When we were kids, "the phone" was just a phone, but the approximate analog version of this whole conversation would have been, "I don't want you watching that goddamn General Hospital! And no Atari until you finish your homework! And no calling Colleen until after 7, for fuck's sake! Go outside! And stay where I can see you." Or is Apple now in charge of all that pesky stuff. "Parental controls," are you freakin' kidding me.

Further Reading

If you are concerned about the increasingly negative impact of technology (which is really no laughing matter, despite my laughing about this "Apple is ruining our kids" iPhone story) then I recommend you check out an online publication called The Technoskeptic. They take a serious look at our dependence on tech of all kinds, and what you can personally do to avoid the pitfalls of  "too much technology." There are articles and a podcast. Please donate if you can. 

Visit

And here's a link to the Reuters story:

Apple says it looks out for kids, as investors cite phone 'addiction'