Is Apple Responsible for the Well-Being of Our Kids?

I was surprised to see that the most-viewed article on the blog this week was one that I wrote almost 5 years ago, What to Do if Your Kids Are Obsessed with Technology. (Thanks to whoever shared that on Facebook!) Reading it again, it seems to hold up fairly well, and I would still offer the same advice to parents wondering what to do if their young one seems too drawn to screens.

However, many things have changed since 2013. Smartphones have gotten so ubiquitous that every teenager I see has one, and most children older than 8 or 9 seem to have one as well (and if not a smartphone, then almost certainly a tablet or Chromebook). Snapchat and Instagram have gotten ever more entrenched as the platforms of choice for young people’s socializing and selfie-expression, and games with addictive mechanisms have proliferated like weeds. We’re even having a cultural conversation about whether a generation has been destroyed because of the effects of smart devices. I don’t think it’s gone quite that far, but I hear constantly from parents about the difficulty they have trying to separate their kids from their screens. 

Now, I am an old-school Apple fan, using Apple computers and devices almost exclusively ever since my first experiences with an Apple II in elementary school. So it was with great interest that I saw the recent headlines about investors calling for Apple to look into how their technology may be harming kids and to mitigate any potential harms. Then, earlier this week, Farhad Manjoo went even further with an article in the New York Times about how Apple can help save all of us, adults included, from the attention-grabbing consequences of their technology by building a “less-addictive iPhone.” I agree with Manjoo that this represents a great opportunity for Apple, since their business model does not depend primarily on people using their devices nonstop. However, designing software to be less addictive for all is a much more complicated issue than putting in better parental controls for minors, so I’m going to focus on the latter for rest of this post.

Ultimately, I think the answer to the question posed in the title of this article is that parents are responsible for their kids, but parents need help, and Apple can do a lot more to make it easier for parents to set appropriate limits. Even for savvy parents who do not allow screens in bedrooms, sometimes the lure of the device is so tempting that a kid would sneak it into their rooms at night. Many parents I work with try to set screen time limits, but they can’t keep watch on their kids all the time, and it’s hard for a parent to know how much time a kid is spending watching videos vs. playing games vs. working on homework. And even when a parent can accurately track the time and tells a child to stop using the device, this often leads to arguments and fights if the child is super-engaged in what they’re doing (I probably see a biased sample of kids who tend to get very irritable when this happens). Plus, I’m sure that Apple can come up with a much more elegant solution than a lockbox with a timer. 

Most of us have probably heard by now that defaults matter, whether it’s for organ donation rates, food choices, or 401k participation. And right now the default when setting up a new iPhone or iPad is that the user is all-powerful; she can access all apps, all sites, and use the device at all hours of the day and night. Stricter controls have to be manually enabled, which many parents simply do not do. Also, Apple’s current parental controls (under Settings -> General -> Restrictions) are rudimentary: specific apps can be restricted, and if a child tries to download a new app from the App Store, parents can choose to get an alert on their device that would allow them to approve or deny the purchase. There is also a content filter for apps, movies, and music that restricts adult content, and a website filter that blocks access to adult sites.

This is not a bad start, but far from adequate in today’s environment. I think Apple should ask during the initial setup of a new device whether the device is intended for a minor, and if so, the age of the child. With that info, Apple should then set defaults (which the parent can always change later) that are age-appropiate, in line with expert recommendations on screen time, gaming, and how much sleep kids need. If a device is in “kid mode” and it runs up against preset time limits, it should give the user a warning 5 minutes and 1 minute before the time limit is reached, so there will not be any surprises when the user gets locked out of what they’re doing. The device should also lock itself 1 hour before bedtime. If the child wants to use it past a time restriction, the parent would have to grant permission on a case-by-case basis. 

Here’s an example of what I think might be roughly appropriate for 2 broad age groups:

Kids (6-12)
Video watching: 30 mins
Games: 30 mins
Nighttime: No use after 8pm
Apps: All apps (except Phone, Mail, Messages, Music, Photos) initially restricted; parents can manually enable other apps
Contacts: Only allow calls/texts/email with approved contacts
Content: Block adult content and websites

Teens (13-18)
Video watching: 1 hr
Games: 1 hr
Social media apps: 1 hr
Total use of above categories: 2 hrs
Nighttime: No use of most apps after 10pm, but can play music or podcasts
Apps, Contacts, Content: Less restrictive than for kids, but parents should have an easy way of seeing how much time is spent in different apps.

If you think I’m being too strict, then you probably haven’t been paying attention to how much tech industry executives tend to limit their children's access to devices. As I said on the Twitter:

Um…isn’t the red flag here how few limits most parents are setting about their kids’ electronics use, rather than what @BillGates is doing? He’s not surprising strict, most parents are surprisingly lax. https://t.co/rQyYA0nuhM

— Psycritic (@psycrit) January 19, 2018

I was encouraged recently when Apple took a step to look after for its users’ interests by requiring that game developers disclose the odds in games that have gambling-style mechanics. Up to now, Apple may have viewed parental control software as a third party opportunity, creating an opening for successful businesses like OurPact or Disney's Circle. But Apple also has a long tradition of “sherlocking,” in which they steal the best features of a third party product and incorporate them into their operating system. When it comes to setting better defaults for kids, I would encourage Apple to sherlock away!

Free Branding Advice For The American Psychiatric Association

On Sunday, while going about my weekend business (which means possibly wasting some time on Twitter), I was greeted with this unsolicited gift from the American Psychiatric Association:

Say hello to the APA's new brand! #APAAM15 pic.twitter.com/wV062FoLbK

— American Psychiatric (@APAPsychiatric) May 17, 2015

There's also an announcement on the APA website and an accompanying Youtube video. Here's an alternative version of the new logo:

Now, I'm not an APA member, but as a psychiatrist, this is just embarrassing. Poor Benjamin Rush must be rolling over in his grave! I'm also not a "branding expert," but it seems that the APA could use all the help it can get these days. Thus, I'm offering some pro bono advice as a public service.

Typeface

First off, the text becomes very fashion-forward with the use of a skinny font (resembles Avenir, but I'm not sure exactly what it is) for "American" and "Association." The semi-bold and colored emphasis on the word "Psychiatric" just seems a bit…desperate. Look at us, we're psychiatrists! I'm not saying that the typeface doesn't look nice, but it smacks of trying too hard to match the latest trends in visual marketing:

Now, Apple can do with this because they actually are producing new high-tech products. But the APA? Sorry, I don't think Understanding Mental Disorders: Your Guide to DSM-5 qualifies. Why not make something that looks timeless and classy, rather than trendy and fashionable? Here's my suggestion:

This has the added benefit of allowing the letters "APA" to line up, emphasizing to the world that the fight over what "APA" stands for is not over, even though the American Psychological Association owns apa.org and the Google search results. We psychiatrists don't give up!

Logo

Though I discussed the choice of typeface first, the new logo emphasizing the brain is the most jarring aspect of the APA brand refresh. Here were my initial thoughts:

New @APAPsychiatric logo looks like a fuzzy egg from the distance. Hope they didn't pay too much for it! #APAAM15 https://t.co/hJVNDWpGJ4

— Psycritic (@psycrit) May 17, 2015

A couple of days later, I still feel the same way. If you're trying so hard to signal that the organization is modern and future-looking, then why in the world use such a literal outline of a brain? The whole point of logos is to make a simplified visual representation of something so it becomes an instantly recognizable icon. That's why Apple's logo doesn't look like an actual silhouette of an apple, and the Microsoft Windows logo doesn't look like a photorealistic window. It's also why the serpent on the Rod of Asclepius winding its way through the brain (wisely) does not show snake scales. Also, note what happens to the APA's brain when it's shrunk:

Look how fuzzy the brain becomes, while the Rod of Asclepius retains its shape nicely. So, APA, if you're going to use a brain with folds, then at least make them look somewhat rounded:

Even though it's a bit cartoony and not anatomically accurate, it's at least visually cogent, especially at smaller sizes. Alternatively, you can get even more minimalistic:

These changes took me all of 20 minutes in Photoshop, and I'm no graphic artist. I wonder how much the APA paid their consultants for all this?

Tagline

Finally, that tagline: "Medical leadership for mind, brain and body." While I won't argue too much over the missing Oxford comma, I do think: wouldn't it be nice if the tagline matched the typeface and the logo? The typeface signals future-think, while the logo features a traditional symbol of medicine within the brain. I don't see anything conveying "mind" or "body." Since I believe honesty is the best policy when it comes to branding, why not this:

Or even better, if the focus in going to be on medical brain disorders, why not a complete rebrand of the APA into something even awesomer?

There, that's more like it!

Challenges of Psychiatry Blogging: Design

This is part 3 of my series on the challenges of psychiatry blogging. Previous posts covered content and audience.

As a long-time fan of Apple products, I've believed in the simple, not the complex when it comes to design. I also believe that design is how something works, not just how it looks. My favorite technology blogs are ones that are clean, uncluttered, and draw your attention to the content. They do not tend to have anything extraneous, like stock photos. For me, there's an inherent pleasure in using a site that is well-designed, while even little annoyances can add up and detract from the overall experience.

Not surprisingly, I frequent many psychiatry blogs, and unfortunately I often find myself wishing for better design on some of those blogs. First though, I would like to point out Roger Lewin's blog, which still strikes me as one of the best designed psychiatrist blogs. Of course, his site was made by a professional, and I recognize that most people, myself included, just want a free blog. Fortunately, even mainstream blogging sites like WordPress and Blogger have good default templates to choose from these days. Another nice example is Reidbord's Reflections, which is very readable and well-organized.

I recognize that most psychiatrists do not have the time or inclination to endlessly tweak their blog's design, but I would like to present some simple tips that can really help improve the usability of a blog. Wherever possible, I've tried to use examples from non-psychiatry blogs to illustrate my point.

Layout & Navigation

The most basic design question is what happens when a person arrives at your blog for the first time. What will she see? Will it be obvious what content is on the blog and how to get to it? Is he going to have to scroll down right away or click on something in order to start reading the blog? For example, let's take a look at this site:

If I am there for the first time, I am treated to a view of the blog's big fancy name. However, the useful content only takes up a small fraction of the screen, so every time I visit, I would have to immediately scroll down in order to read anything beyond the first bit of the top article. Another example is if a blog uses a "dynamic view" with many pictures, which looks nice at first glance:

However, I have no idea looking at this what any of the posts are about, and in order to actually read anything, I'd have to mouse over each picture to see the title of the post, and then click to read the post itself. I do not think this is a very user-friendly design.

Fonts

This is probably really obvious, but having a font size that is too small makes the blog harder to read. Conversely, a font size that is too large can also diminish usability by decreasing how much one can read on a page before having to scroll down. Too many different typefaces can also be distracting. One major pet peeve of mine is text justification: It looks nice in books because most published books (in paper form, not e-books) are laid out by hand, and long words can be hyphenated. This doesn't ubiquitously happen on the web yet, so unfortunately you can end up with a paragraph like this:

Please, just don't do it! (My apologies to Thought Broadcast, as I couldn't easily find a similar example elsewhere.)

Color

The use of color, I believe, should be sparing and help draw your eye towards certain important elements, but not get in the way of the actual content of blog posts. One might argue that lack of color is boring; I would respond that it's better to focus on the writing and the topic at hand than to try to use lots of colors (or colorful clip art, for that matter) as a way of drawing people in.

I hope that the above tips were helpful and showed that better design does not have to take a ton of effort. I welcome any constructive feedback, so please let me know in the comments how I can improve the design of this blog.