How to escape the smartphone doom loop | Larz May, Elise Hu
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2026
⏱️ 17 minutes
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Summary
Larz May has spent a decade building digital wellness programs for young people, and she's discovered something quietly radical: the smartphone doom loop of screen dependence and anxiety isn't inevitable, and joy (not restriction) is the way out. She makes the case for a different relationship with technology — starting with swapping screens for some analog fun.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. |
| 0:09.3 | I'm your host, Elise Hume. |
| 0:11.6 | Digital Wellness innovator Larissa May was scrolling herself to death in college. |
| 0:17.0 | She says she was spending 10 to 12 hours a day behind a screen. |
| 0:25.4 | More time scrolling than she was sleeping, walking, or talking to anyone. |
| 0:29.4 | Eventually, she got help, and then she decided to do something more. |
| 0:35.8 | Today, she's talking about what young people can do to escape the smartphone doom loop. |
| 0:43.3 | Do we want to chase our dreams, or do we want to be behind these things that are making billions of dollars for a couple of guys in Silicon Valley? |
| 0:50.0 | Larissa is the founder of hashtag Half the Story, a nonprofit she started in her college dorm room with $250. |
| 0:55.1 | And she's co-founder of Ginko, a clinician-backed AI platform for families. |
| 1:00.6 | I sat down with her on the TED Next stage to talk about her work and her vision for the future. |
| 1:06.0 | She makes the case that the answer to digital wellness isn't abstinence, it's education, |
| 1:09.9 | intention, and putting young people at the center of the solution. I think we really need to get out of the consumer seat |
| 1:13.2 | and into the driver's seat when it comes to technology. |
| 1:16.6 | And what I mean by that is that you can literally retrain |
| 1:20.2 | your mind or your child's mind |
| 1:22.5 | by engaging with technology 20 minutes a day |
| 1:25.4 | and doing something joyful. |
| 1:26.9 | That conversation is coming up right after a short break. |
| 1:39.0 | And now our conversation of the day. |
| 1:42.3 | Tell us a little bit about what led you here and what it means to |
| 1:46.0 | you to be a digital wellness entrepreneur. Well, the beginning of digital wellness started with |
... |
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