Apple Just Launched a Social Movement, and No One Seems to Have Noticed: Part 1

For the past decade we have been living in an ever more cynical worldamp160 Certainly it39s difficult to imagine a more volatile time in the relationships of citizen to citizen friend to friend and family member to family memberamp160 There are topics either too taboo to speak about or when spoken cause rifts in interpersonal relationshipsamp160 As a nation we are more polarized politically than everamp160 The media is the apex of this divide enabled by the digital era where every opinion is represented as fact thanks to the leveling of the distribution playing field and amplification effect of social mediaOver the past decade we have lived in an era with extraordinarily dystopian contentamp160 There is a thin line between the real carnage that we see on the news and the fictional carnage on The Walking Dead iZombie Breaking Bad American Horror Story Game of Thrones Black Mirror Jessica Jones The Punisher and any New York Knicks game oh if only it were fictionamp160 To be clear these are all great shows but viewed collectively they reflect an overarching theme that cannot be called quotoptimisticquotEven comedians are struggling to find the balanceamp160 Jerry Seinfeld has spoken publicly on the challenges of doing standup in today39s cultural environmentamp160 The stories of MeToo have men and women struggling to find ways to work together in the workplaceamp160 Just imagine Sam and Diane from Cheers or Pam and Jim from The Office in today39s environmentOur views on immigration and immigrants is a topic of daily conversation played out in countless hours across the newsamp160 Our fellow citizens get a large portion of the news from an algorithm that exists primarily to maximize the time they spend on aamp160social site only allowing limited exposure to other viewpoints reinforcing stereotypes and stifling diverse perspectivesWhich all leads to this week39s Apple press conference photo above where they announced Apple News Apple Arcade Apple TVamp160and the Apple CardIt was an odd press conference full of broad concept and star power but short on detailamp160 And why exactly when you are introducing three subscription services do you throw in the launch of a credit card in the middle of the presentationThere is a single thread running through all these announcements Apple cares about humanity and will try to get us back on the road of hope civility kindness and understandingamp160 Yes to some of you that sounds like some serious hippitydippity stuffamp160 Just keep in mind that Steve Jobs still looms large in the ethos of Apple and he had his serious hippitydippity moments which in large part made him Steve JobsLet39s break this down amp8230Apple Newsamp160 Lack of exposure to diverse opinions is one of the challenges of a digital age which is ironic given the quotinformation is freequot web ethos but the algorithm era has subverted that idealamp160 The social streams and their algorithms will telegraph your viewpoint right back at youamp160 The ability to find educated wellresearched factbased content is a challenge particularly in the paywall eraamp160 Apple News provides consumers with access to diverse professional educated thoughtout content for a fair price 999monthamp160 The service includes The Wall Street Journal The Los Angeles Times and The Toronto Star in addition to over 300 magazines from The New Yorker to Peopleamp160 I don39t know if this will solve the news via social feed issue but for many it will open up worlds for the cost of a magazine and a halfApple Cardamp160 So how is launching a credit card going to help the world especially with Goldman Sachs as the bankamp160 Apple clearly wants to be the kinder more humanistic cardamp160 No late fees no penalty if you miss one monthly payment the easy ability to fully view your purchases and to pay more than once a month if you have that ability are all significant customercentric positive innovationsApple Arcadeamp160 As a quasigamer I would probably lean more to Google39s Stadiaamp160 Yet with the sheer volume of mobile gaming done on iOS this move to provide a subscription service that offers over 100 new and exclusive games with Apple working with developers makes senseamp160 It39s impossible to avoid a violencefree gaming service but the emphasis in this week39s announcement was on consolequality games but more on the tamer casual sideBut Wait That39s Not All Let39s get right to the heart of the matteramp160 We39ll do that in Part 2Click the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Apple Just Launched a Social Movement, and No One Seems to Have Noticed: Part 1

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Jeff Minsky

"About That" with Carl Mayer: Corinne Casagrande (Episode 8: Consumer Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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Apple Just Launched a Social Movement, and No One Seems to Have Noticed: Part 1

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