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A32 FEATURE
Thursday 29 augusT 2019
Even tech execs fret about their kids' smartphone addictions

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE dren's rising dependence
Associated Press on technology extend be-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — yond parents. They some-
Like a lot of parents, Mike times also vex other rela-
Herrick occasionally sees tives, like aunts and uncles.
his 13-year-old daughter One of them is Apple CEO
getting lost in her smart- Tim Cook, who revealed in
phone and wonders: Is a public appearance this
technology messing with year that he tries to keep
children's brains, even as it his nephew off social net-
enlightens and empowers works.
them in ways that weren't Apple is trying to address
possible when his genera- some of the problems it
tion grew up? helped create with the
What sets Herrick apart is 2007 introduction of the
his job. He is a product and iPhone by offering more
engineering executive at features for parents to
Urban Airship, a company monitor and control how
in Portland, Oregon, that much time they and their
makes online tools that kids spend on the devices.
send the kind of relentless The new tools, part of the
notifications that can make latest version of an iPhone
people act like bears near operating system released
a honey pot. In this Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, photo Urban Airship product and engineering executive Mike Her- last month, can even be
The tensions between the rick works at his desk with photos of his daughter, Lauren, and wife Erin at his side in Portland, Ore. deployed to keep kids off
pride Herrick takes in his Associated Press distracting apps like Face-
profession and his paren- book, Snap and Instagram
tal qualms about technol- gry and just staring into phone conversation — on the Pew Research Center. completely — or just at cer-
ogy tug particularly hard the abyss," says Keith Mes- the rare occasion when Nearly three-fourths of par- tain times of day. Google
when he sees his daughter, sick, chief marketing officer they use their devices to ents said they thought their included similar controls in
Lauren, and her friends tex- for Dialpad, a specialist in make a call. teenagers were sometimes its latest version of the An-
ting each other instead of phone systems that incor- "This is the world we live in," distracted by their phones droid operating system,
talking — when they're sit- porate voice controls and Messick says. He says he still during conversations with which powers most of the
ting 5 feet apart. Or when other artificial intelligence. believes that technology's them. world's smartphones.
he hears a friend jokingly "That's when I recoil just a "positives far outweigh the Yet 86 percent of the par- Instagram co-founder Kev-
describe him as a "mobile little bit." negatives." ents say they're very or in Systrom thinks that is a
arms dealer." He is especially troubled Most parents have similarly somewhat confident that good idea. He is already
At times like those, Herrick when he sees his own mixed feelings about tech- they have determined an vowing to limit his now-
worries that technology 13-year-old son mindlessly nology, whether or not they appropriate amount of 10-month-old daughter's
may be having a corro- thumb at his screen. Mes- work in the industry. About screen time for their teens. eventual exposure to de-
sive effect on society, even sick also worries that the two-thirds of U.S. parents Slightly more than one-third vices and social media as
though he feels no regrets ease of texting and posting worry that their teenage of parents acknowledged she grows up.
about his job because he on social media is turning children spend too much spending too much time on At the same time, Systrom,
unequivocally believes that kids into poor communica- time immersed in a screen, their phones themselves, 34, is hoping his daughter
Urban Airship's tools are a tors who write things they'd according to a survey re- the survey said. will embrace technology
net benefit to people. never say in person or in a leased in late August by The concerns about chil- as he did when he began
"You can't help but feel the using computers and surf-
juxtaposition," says Herrick, ing the internet as a boy.
44. "The power of this age He credits his own early fas-
we live in is that it has given cination with technology
everyone access to all this for inspiring him to create
information and the ability Instagram — an app with
to stay connected to peo- more than 1 billion users
ple, but how do we man- whose success has reward-
age it better?" ed him with an estimated
It's a question besetting personal fortune of $1.5 bil-
other technology execu- lion.
tives, too. Many say they're "Obviously, like anything —
trying to reconcile their ful- whether it's food, or drink
fillment from working in a — moderation is key," Sys-
financially rewarding indus- trom says. "I think we are in
try that they say has made a world where we have to
life more efficient, enjoy- develop opinions on what
able and affordable for that moderation is and how
people with their misgivings to do it." Brian Peterson, Di-
as parents about the ad- alpad's co-founder and
dictiveness of devices and vice president of engineer-
social media that now de- ing, loves his job and tech-
fine much of daily life. nology, too — so much so
Technology "can be like This Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, file photo shows the cameras on the back of the Google Pixel 3 XL, that gave both his daugh-
opening your refrigerator left, and Google Pixel 3 smartphones in New York. ters iPads around the time
door when you are hun- Associated Press they were 2.q