Tim Cook has been interviewed by GQ, with some big details about how Cook views the world and the company that he runs. When asked about screen usage, he notes that he uses one of the big features of his iPhone to make sure that he's not spending too much time staring at a screen.
He also talks about how the next generation, and the digital world into which they're coming of age, along with some other really interesting insights into his life. The whole interview can be read at GQ.
Keeping screen time down
Cook says that he uses Screen Time to look at how much time he's using his phone: "Because my philosophy is, if you’re looking at the phone more than you’re looking in somebody’s eyes, you’re doing the wrong thing. So we do things like Screen Time. I don’t know about you, but I pretty religiously look at my report."
Even the CEO of Apple seems to have had a problem with spending too much time looking at his screen, which makes us feel a little better about our own screen habits. He goes on to say that the tech is part of how Apple wants to enable its users to 'do things they couldn't do'. Cook remarks in the interview, "And I mean, that’s really what drives us. We don’t want people using our phones too much. We’re not incentivized for that."
It's an interesting look into how Apple views its devices, or at least how its CEO does. These aren't supposed to be devices that drag your attention from everything around you, they're devices that are supposed to augment your life and help you get stuff done, or be more creative. Whether users see the devices in the same way that Cook does however remains to be seen – although it would be very interesting to see some data from the collected userbase of the best iPhones, and by extension, Screen Time.
