This is the battle of the Titans. Two of the largest companies in the world are at odds. Apple announced a new feature starting with a soon to be released update … a feature that lets you control who tracks you.
You know what I’m talking about. You Google something, say a review on a baby gift you are buying a friend who is having their first child. Next thing you know, baby ads pop up on everything … news’ app will mention baby seats … you have Oshkosh B’gosh ads on Twitter … Luvs diapers ads on Facebook. And I can’t prove it, but I would wager they are even listening. Talk to your wife about taking a vacay, and next thing you see are Disney World ads on your opening splash page.
Big Brother is here.
In this world, Apple now will require its apps to ask for permission before tracking users. They will also have to provide details about the data they collect. Hmmm, giving control of your privacy to you. Doesn’t seem bad. And add extra layers of transparency. Doesn’t sound bad at all.
FaceBook was not pleased. A multi-million dollar response. Full page ads in the largest newspapers. Calling Apple anti-small-business … threat to a free internet … killer of small businesses.
Tim Cook could’ve responded with sarcasm, could’ve ranted on Twitter, could’ve upped the ante with a harsh comeback. But that’s not what he did. He waited and gave a simple one paragraph press release giving the reasoning behind Apple’s direction.
One author claimed Cook’s response was a perfect example of a person of high emotional intelligence (EI). EI is recognizing how you respond to something, evaluate your thoughts, emotions, and feelings that lead to your response, and make wise and intentional choices on how you will respond.
Low EI people will have knee-jerk reactions. They will shoot first and ask questions second. They will rant and post and demand what they ‘think’ is right without considering all the factors, all the circumstances, and all the point of views.
High EI peeps will look at all the details and also evaluate how their response will also be taken. Basically, they will quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
This response is nothing groundbreaking. The brother of Jesus wrote about this 2000 years ago (James 1.19). But this wisdom is often neglected today. I’m not saying people are low intelligence, but we often behave with low emotional intelligence.
I wonder what 2021 would be like if people took James’s advice and acted a bit more like Tim Cook did in this present battle of the Titans? What a wonderful world this would be.
Forget everyone else … how will you reposed to things in 2021?
Post Script … I think FB will lose this battle, and that’ll be tough for the Z man. And maybe it’ll help all of us that use the web. I’ll keep on using my Apple products.
Muddy Shoes by Todd 
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