10,012+ agree we're in desperate need of public health campaigns to eliminate mindless scrolling

Social media is our generation's Cigarette.

Only worse.

We're raising capital to fund the first public health campaign in the U.S. to make mindless scrolling as taboo for young kids today as smoking.

Co-led by the creative minds behind the campaigns credited with reducing teen smoking from 30% to 2%.

You only get 18 summers with your kid.

We don't need more research. We need action.

Tobacco. Drunk driving. Secondhand smoke. Every modern harm at this scale was solved by public health campaigns. Doomscrolling is the next one.

What scrolling has done to a generation.

2019
~2×
Depression and anxiety rates in U.S. 12-to-17-year-olds nearly doubled over the decade.Pew · CDC
2019
+131%
Suicide rate jumped for girls aged 10–14 over the first decade of social media.CDC WONDER
2023
44%
U.S. parents name social media the single most negative influence on teen mental health.Pew · 2023
2024
1 in 5
U.S. teens say they are on TikTok almost constantly.Pew · 2024
Why right now?

Doomscrolling is facing its "Big Tobacco" moment.

In 1998: the tobacco industry was forced to pay $206 billion to fund the anti-tobacco campaigns that spread awareness and ultimately reduced use of their own products.

In 2026: Meta is being sued by 42 state attorneys general for the same thing: knowingly creating highly addictive products that have provably caused harm.

The missing piece is the ad campaign.

42
States suing
1,700+
Family cases in MDL
AK HI WA ID MT ND MN WI MI NY VT NH ME OR NV WY SD IA IL IN OH PA NJ CT MA CA UT CO NE MO KY WV VA MD DE DC AZ NM KS AR TN NC SC TX OK LA MS AL GA FL
33 states · joint federal suit (N.D. Cal.) 9 states + DC · own state court suits Not yet filed

42 states plus DC have filed legal action against Meta over harm to youth mental health.

We are in the middle of a cultural reckoning. We are in desperate need of a public health campaign.

Bloomberg Mar 30, 2026

Meta's $280 Billion Tailspin Sparks 'Tobacco Moment' Questions

By Ryan Vlastelica
The Guardian Mar 25, 2026

Big tech reckoning: Meta ordered to pay $375m in landmark case

By Lucy Hough
Politico Mar 26, 2026

Social media trials usher in Big Tech's latest moment of reckoning

By Tyler Katzenberger & Katherine Long
Forbes Mar 31, 2026

Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment: What The Meta And YouTube Ruling Means For You

By Anisha Sircar

We will create positive change through storytelling.

Create incredibly compelling ad campaigns that resonate with teen scrollers.

Apply Truth's playbook to the new media landscape.

Truth ran on broadcast, billboards, and youth events. We will run ads through new media including creators and on the same platforms where the harm currently takes place.

In the lineage of
This Is Your Brain on Drugs ↗ Partnership for a Drug-Free America · 1987 Body Bags ↗ Truth · 2000 Shards O' Glass ↗ Truth · Super Bowl 2004 Tips From Former Smokers ↗ CDC · Terrie H.'s Tip ad Rewind the Future ↗ Strong4Life · 2014
Work in progress: Coming soon

Our first film takes inspiration from this anti-obesity video and this post from Angela Duckworth.

Coming soon

How we define success

Reduce the number of US teens on TikTok almost constantly from 20% in 2024 to <1% in 2030.

Scrolling becomes uncool.

  • Compulsive social media use becomes uncool in teen circles and spreads to younger children.
  • Being present becomes the new flex.
  • The next generation grows up thinking infinite scrolling is something older generations used to do.
Get involved

Fund the campaigns.

Our work and campaigns is currently privately funded, although we hope that in the future, Big Tech companies will partly fund our campaigns. We rely on the support of our generous individual donors, foundation grants and philanthropic capital.

Talk to us →

Lend your craft.

We are grateful to be working with some of the most creative minds in the world on this project, both well-known and up-and-coming. This includes filmmakers, designers, writers, comedians, musicians and more. If our mission resonates with you, and you'd like to explore working with us, please reach out.

Talk to us →

Your kid's time and wellbeing is important.

The algorithm is taking both, one scroll at a time. Help us take them back.

Teen depression and self-harm started climbing in 2012 — the year smartphones hit majority adoption. Meta's own research showed Instagram made 32% of teen girls feel worse about their bodies. TikTok's internal documents pegged compulsive use at 35 minutes. 1,200+ families are suing the platforms over their kids. The Surgeon General issued a formal advisory.
Yes. Variable reward schedules. Infinite scroll. Push notifications. These were borrowed from slot machine design and chosen on purpose. The engineers who built it have publicly said they regret it.
Telling a kid to "just put the phone down" is like telling a smoker in 1960 to "just smoke less." The product is designed to defeat that decision 50,000 times a day.
Every comparable harm. Tobacco: youth smoking 23% → 4%. Drunk driving: fatalities cut roughly in half. Seatbelts, lead paint, secondhand smoke, HIV prevention — all solved culturally and systemically.
Their business model requires the harm. Meta makes more money the longer your kid scrolls. Expecting them to self-regulate is like expecting Philip Morris to make people stop smoking.
The Dutch tried an age limit. France banned phones in schools. These help — but they don't shift culture, they move the behavior. The smoking decline came from culture first, then laws.
A behavior practiced 5 hours a day by 95% of teenagers won't be fixed by an app, a policy, a parent, or a school. It will be fixed by storytelling at scale.
Truth's playbook is documented. The architects are alive — and on our founding board. The MSA legal infrastructure exists. We've done this before.