When we first started talking to investors about LOOK, we sometimes heard, "Gen Z doesn't want to stop using social media!" But we've been on the ground with teens for the last four years and know that THEY DO indeed want help to use social media less. This Harris poll was recently published and proves just that.
Digging into another survey, 44% of teen girls say they spend too much time on their smartphones, and roughly four-in-ten teens (39%) say they have cut back on their time on social media, both according to Pew Research Center. Emma Lembke, a LOOK Youth Advisory Board member and founder of the Log Off Movement said, “Adults and investors are underestimating how much youth want help using their phones less.” She has testified before Congress and been interviewed by the NYT, Bloomberg, The Hill, and CBS.
During the twelve hours when TikTok flirted with a ban, 17-year-old Juliet wrote in the New York Times, “My support for [the TikTok] ban has nothing to do with national security...what worries me most right now is the future of my generation. I’m a TikTok junkie, and I wholeheartedly support a law that would sever me forever from my fix.”
Adults may think teenagers don’t want to stop using social media because they see so many teenagers glued to it. They see teenagers get belligerent if they are asked to not use social media or to put their phone down. This is not an indication that they don’t want help, but rather evidence of addiction. An addict doesn’t politely put their drugs down when asked if they are about to shoot up. We see hope when looking at how many teens are waking up and having the self-awareness to know that they would feel better if they used social media less. There is a trend toward flip phones and dumb phones (which we doubt will ever return to the mainstream) but it illustrates that there is a pain point. The fifteen-year mass experiment on our brains and behavior has delivered devastating results, and we are here to respond with a solution that will build the escape hatch from smartphone addiction.

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