The impact of tech on mental health is something that has been really widely discussed, such as the prevalence of body image issues among teens that use Instagram as well as a wide range of other things. Tech can also be helpful for mental health, and companies like Apple have taken steps to help users see how much screen time they are getting, but we have a long way to go before we can safely say that tech has become more or less sustainable from a mental health perspective.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Tim Cook has spoken about mental health and how tech can have either a positive or negative impact on it quite a bit in the past, and that is something that he is continuing to do. In a recent discussion with former colleagues that went on to develop the mental health app Shine, he talked about his feelings on the matter in a really up front way.
Shine has been promoted on the App Store and for good reason: it has a really positive approach on mental health and is currently being used in just under 200 countries around the world. While Cook does not think that tech can be categorically bad for mental health, he does feel like it can go either way. How tech is used is a big part of the impact that it can end up having, and one can see how certain companies like Facebook might be making things go in the wrong direction.
We need more apps that focus on mental health rather than trapping users in a positive feedback loop for money, and Shine is a great example of an app that manages to do this in a really amazing manner.
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Read next: Apple requires apps to effortlessly delete accounts, including third-party apps
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Tim Cook has spoken about mental health and how tech can have either a positive or negative impact on it quite a bit in the past, and that is something that he is continuing to do. In a recent discussion with former colleagues that went on to develop the mental health app Shine, he talked about his feelings on the matter in a really up front way.
Shine has been promoted on the App Store and for good reason: it has a really positive approach on mental health and is currently being used in just under 200 countries around the world. While Cook does not think that tech can be categorically bad for mental health, he does feel like it can go either way. How tech is used is a big part of the impact that it can end up having, and one can see how certain companies like Facebook might be making things go in the wrong direction.
We need more apps that focus on mental health rather than trapping users in a positive feedback loop for money, and Shine is a great example of an app that manages to do this in a really amazing manner.
Read next: Apple requires apps to effortlessly delete accounts, including third-party apps