Apple has a 'moral responsibility' to deal with tech addiction, says chief designer

The man behind the iPhone says he believes the firm has a "moral responsibility" to deal with the effects of its technology. Photo / 123RF

The man behind the iPhone and Apple Watch has revealed he believes the firm has a "moral responsibility" to deal with the effects of its technology.

As technology firms come under increasing fire for their role in phone and app addiction, Apple's chief design officer Jonathan Ive told The FT the problem "keeps me awake", reports the Daily Mail.

"If you're creating something new, it is inevitable there will be consequences that were not foreseen — some that will be great, and then there are those that aren't as positive," he told the newspaper.

"There is a responsibility to try and predict as many of the consequences as possible and I think you have a moral responsibility to try to understand, try to mitigate those that you didn't predict," he said.

"I think it's part of the culture at Apple to believe that there is a responsibility that doesn't end when you ship a product. It keeps me awake."

Part of Apple's answer to the problem, called Screen Time, launched as part of the free iOS 12 software update for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch.

It offers new tools for managing screen time, letting users see will let you see how often they (or their kids) picked up the phone after bedtime or how long they were on Instagram at work for.

Apple's chief design officer also revealed he attended the wedding of Princess Eugenie, saying he first met her father, Prince Andrew, who was pictured at the wedding wearing an Apple Watch, a decade ago.

Last week Ive told the Wired25 conference in San Francisco 'the nature of innovation is that you cannot predict all the consequences.

"In my experience, there have been surprising consequences," he told Anna Wintour.

"Some fabulous, and some less so."

"First there were iPhones, and now there's iPhone addiction," said Wintour.

"How do you feel about that? Is the world too connected?"

"I think it's good to be connected," Ive replied.

"I think the real question is what you do with that connection."

"We've been doing a lot of work in terms of not only understanding how long you use a device, but how you're using it," Ive said.

Ive said the key to beating addiction is human connection.

He said the work Apple has been doing on emoji and messaging are meant to "restore some humanity to the way we connect."

He also addressed Apple's secrecy, saying "I've been doing this for long enough where I actually feel a responsibility to not confuse or add more noise about what's being worked on because I know that sometimes it does not work out."

Wintour also asked what keeps Ive driven at Apple, and he says excitement was the key.

"If you lose that childlike excitement, I think it's time to do something else."

Wintour asked if he's at that point, to which he responded "Oh goodness no."