On his recent trip to New York City after 2 years, Apple CEO Tim Cook meet with Charlotte Owen to discuss the company’s support for ‘Shine’, an inclusive mental health app founded by former Apple employees, Naomi Hirabayashi and Marah Lidey.
Shine app has 4 million users in more than 189 countries and it is providing a platform to individuals to look after their mental wellness and companies to facilitate psychologically healthy workplaces. The app won Apple’s Best of the App Store award in 2020 because of its service during the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice uprising in the United States after the brutal murder of George Floyd. Mr. Cook said
Shine have done this incredible job, bringing together community and stitching together a number of different things that will make [change] systemic in nature instead of a slogan. So I’m super impressed by what they’re doing and how they got started.
Mental health is a crisis and no one is privileged to the point that mental health is not a key factor in life, says Tim Cook
When asked about the importance of highlighting an app like Shine, Tim Cook answered that mental health is a crisis, and everyone experiences low days, regardless of how privileged they are. Therefore, an app like Shine is working to take away the stigma associated with mental health by not letting people suffered in silence and isolation.
He added that to maintain a healthy workplace, the management should try to give constructive feedback because to put anyone down by harsh feedback does not help anyone.
Discussing the role of social media apps like Facebook and Instagram in reducing a balanced use of technology, Tim Cook said that Apple introduced the Screen Time feature to let users know how much time they were spending on their devices which is often more than they say. He mentioned that how Screen Time is used is also important, either one can surround themselves with a false image, indulge in endless and mindless scrolling or one can use apps like Shine to take care of their health.
But that’s just one element. It’s also what you’re doing [on them]. I’ve often worried about the endless scrolling, the surrounding yourself with negativity and so forth. And so elevating a company like Shine and getting people to go check it out — that’s a great use of our technologies because that does serve humanity.
In the digital and competitive world of today, mental health is an important factor of life that is stigmatized and the world has lost some great people who did not seek help for the fear of those stigmas. If you need help to manage stress or depression, Shine app is available on the App Store for free with monthly and annual subscription fees. It will help you “create a daily self-care ritual to help you meditate, connect, and reflect.”
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