EP #126: Not All Screen Time is Created Equal - How to Enhance Your Digital Wellness Routine with Larissa May, Founder of #HalftheStory

(gentle music) Welcome back to another episode of Everyday Endorphins, a mental health podcast focused on the importance of finding joy and happiness and daily living. I'm your host, Stella Stephanopolis, and this week I am so excited to have Larissa May who's the founder of Half the Story on the podcast. So May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we're kicking off this month to celebrate mental health by featuring a pioneer in the wellness space, Lars who has done such incredible work in the nonprofit space around digital wellness and digital activism. In this episode, Lars and I talk about her own struggles with mental health in college, and how that sparked the inspiration for developing Half the Story. We also talk about her definition around digital wellness, and any practices that we can do to enhance our digital wellbeing, and how this idea of digital wellbeing fits into a broader holistic perspective of health and wellness. We also talk about what it means to move from passive to active tech consumption, strategies to digitally flourish, and how to develop a healthier relationship to technology. When we think about mental health awareness, obviously May is the month that's dedicated towards this, but it's important to think about these things on a consistent regular basis, and when we think about our wellbeing, we can look at our emotional wellness, our spiritual wellness, physical, but our digital wellness is actually so important because technology and social media now permeates across all areas of our life, and social media has been a huge contributor to an increase in mental illness over the past few years. So I really admire everything that Larissa has done with Half the Story to educate and empower the youth to develop a healthier relationship to technology because that is the number one culprit to our wellbeing these days. And of course, this wouldn't be an episode for everyday endorphins if Lars did not share what brings her endorphins and how she defines happiness and strategy she takes for boosting and cultivating more joy in her life. So be sure to listen to the whole episode. It is fantastic. I am so stoked to have had Lars on the podcast, and I hope you all enjoy listening. If you want to continue to follow along with everyday endorphins, make sure to subscribe to this page, wherever you listen to your podcasts, you can follow everyday endorphins on Instagram and on TikTok to also stay up to date with future episodes and community events in New York City. Hi Lars, thank you so much for coming on to the podcast today. It is so good to see you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and to end the week off with you. I remember first being introduced to half the story. I want to say when I was in college around like 2018, 2019 and my friend of mine took me to Brain Food, which was such a cool experience. And that was when I first heard about half the story. So I'm kind of having like this crazy moment for myself now sitting here together in 2024 getting to record this episode for my podcast. It's crazy. I can't even believe that I'm still here doing this, which is crazy. So, well, you've been doing it for quite some time. Yes, and it's taken many forms from walking around Washington Square Park to having a play to now, you know, being, what I would say is a bit more of a legitimate organization run by adults, although it was really cool to build it and have those early days of creating and testing. And I think that's kind of the magic that founders don't talk about that much. It's just like how amazing those early days are when you're like, I don't know exactly what we are yet, but we're going to throw things at the wall and you kind of build your brand of the process and it organically unfolds. Yeah, I think like also not getting so tied to how you think something should look, but letting it naturally unfold and enjoying every step of the way is something that, I think is important to keep in mind, not just for founders, but really like life in general. You don't actually know how things will shape and turn out for you. And something I've been learning a lot just through what I've been reading on my own time and what I try to advocate on the podcast is this idea of happiness, like not looking towards some final destination, but really cultivating small moments of joy. And I think as a founder, it's so important to come back to that mentality too, to keep yourself motivated and towards your North Star vision. So I think the biggest thing that I was going to say is that if you're a founder that's starting your company because you're looking for the exit out of the gate, you're probably in the wrong place. And many times, businesses take on many forms. It's one of the greatest challenges that you can take on and you either fall in love with the journey or you probably get off the road. Obviously, I've been on the road for nine years and what foundation has looked like for me as evolved and is everyday, but I definitely feel like it is the greatest privilege in the world to one, figure out what you want to focus on and to be able to do it. 100%. And it's incredible that you have been at it for so long too. Clearly, there is such a passion that you have for mental health and for well-being. And I want to take some time also to just share a little bit about your own story and your own struggles with mental health given that this is going to be released in May, which is mental health awareness month. But I know you've spoken a lot about your own experience with how technology has impacted your own well-being. And there is something really interesting that you've said in an article that I was reading recently. You made it common about how technology was your only friend and you lost yourself to the screen. So can you share a little bit more about that and just your own experience with navigating technology, social media use and how that impacted your health and well-being, specifically in college as well? I'm glad that you asked that question. And I think, first and foremost, digital wellness is a form of wellness. So we talk about sexual wellness, physical wellness. But if we're going to be spending on average eight hours, nine hours a day behind a screen, I firmly believe in our work at Half the Story. You know, believes that digital wellness is really the next revolution. And I think I realized that at a young age, without having digital wellness, every other form of wellness was not going to be in harmony and in balance. And really, the more that I was on my phone, the last time I was sleeping, moving my body, socializing, doing all the things that we need to be human. And so that was a big wake-up call for me. And I think I realized that digital wellness was actually so much more a part of my life. And more than I'd even thought. And I set off on a journey to figure out what that would look like for myself. And now, hopefully, want to share it with others around the world. I think the concept of digital wellness has become increasingly important. And also, I don't even think the vocabulary existed pre-social media. That was probably the onset of this idea of cultivating a healthier relationship to our devices, to technology, to the media that we consume. And I think it's just going to continue to be something that needs to be at the forefront of our minds as other platforms also emerge. Because now it's not just Instagram. It's TikTok. And it's also Snapchat. And there's going to be the next platform too that's going to test the waters. I'd love to hear more about really the founding story of half the story. So digital wellness is really-- that's kind of the niche that you're focused on. And you've drawn inspiration from really your own lived experience. So can we kind of backtrack and start at the inception of building half the story? And where that idea came from? I was not able to find digital wellness without experiencing digital sickness. And for me, I was at the lowest point in my life as a college sophomore. I was new to the digital world. I'd started a fashion blog. I was on one hand enthralled with the opportunities that it presented. But on the other side, it was really killing me because I was more concerned with my digital footprint. Then really my physical wall being or mental wall being. And so ultimately, it came to a point where I was spending between 10 to 12 hours a day on the screen. And my RA had to take me to the psych center at Vanderbilt because I was really struggling. And I think that they were worried that I was going to do something. But the challenging-- something bad, as in take my life. But the challenging part about all this is that the story I was telling on social media did not-- it didn't really look like anything was wrong. And so it became really hard for my parents, my family, and also my friends to even know that anything was going on. Because I was hiding behind my screen, I was numbing out through my phone, which is something we hear from so many people. And it really forced me to start thinking and reckoning with the role that tech plays in my life. And that didn't really happen until after a few weeks of taking anti-depressants, going to the gym, doing all the laundry list of items, my psychiatrist told me, until I realized, wait, they never asked me about the role that social media played in my life or my mental health. And this is where I'm spending all my time. So that light bulb moment happened for me. And I started thinking, what is it about social media that is so challenging? And it was like, well, I came to this idea that social media is only half the story. And actually created an art project, asked for a $250 grant, actually started by photographing people on campus to better understand their experiences with the digital world and started a digital movement that led to where half the story is now. Wow. I mean, it's really evolved and taken shape in an entirely different direction, too, which is really fascinating to hear, like looking back on the story of how you've built half the story. And I love the name. Like social media is only half the story. And that's. So true. I can't even think about the amount of times that I scroll on Instagram and I see all these posts. And I think to myself, sure, this looks great and glamorous, but is this really an accurate depiction of someone else's life? And then I think about my own life and I think about the things I'm putting on my Instagram stories and I'm like, okay, maybe I'm out with friends and this is a great shot, but there's no way that that's actually representative of what's going on in my life. And it's crazy to think about how we portray this image, consciously or subconsciously, that really is not reflective of what life looks like. - No, it's not. And I think that is still a story that we are living with. I mean, last week or a couple of weeks gone tick tock, I'm sure you saw, I was posting, oh, social media, isn't real. And it's something that now the whole world talks about, but nine years, I've really thought I was crazy. So, I guess to do the crazy thing, you have to be a little bit crazy. And I guess I have a sit back and laugh because so many people are like, oh, it's so successful, it's this, it's that. You're overnight success. I'm like, oh, really? 'Cause I've actually been doing this for a decade now. And I think there is something to be said that good things do take time. And when I think about building my future businesses, I think it's taught me a lot about patience and a lot about resilience. I don't think anything will ever be as hard to build as half the story was, as a young person, trying to raise philanthropic capital, but I'm really proud of where we're going and where we are. And we're now on a mission to serve a million students in the next few years. And that's really promising to me. - Absolutely, it's like when you really come from a place of passion, that's what's sustainable. And it may seem on the outside, this was an overnight success, but no, it takes time. It's something that you said actually reminded me of a quote that I wrote down recently. I'm just gonna pull up because I recently finished Rick Rubin's book, The Creative Act, a way of being. Have you read that before? - Of course, my husband's musician, so Rick Rubin's been a huge source of inspiration in our house. And I think being a leader is a deeply spiritual act to be quite honest with you. And I think I've learned that along the way. And a lot of, I think what he speaks about in The Creative Act is very much to a lot of the principles that I try to apply to my everyday. And as a leader and visionary and creator. - Yeah, absolutely. And this quote that actually came to my mind was, he said that many artists come to realize, and let's say artists as even entrepreneurs, right? Come to realize long after their work is released, that it was actually a shockingly vulnerable and cryptic form of confession. A part of themselves is trying to seek resolution or find a voice. And this is so interesting because you've dealt with mental health struggles. You were at a very, very low point in college. So clearly the desire to build the brand that you have the organization comes from a deeply personal place, right? And so how does that quote resonate with you when you look back on the past 10 years and the ways that half the story has taken shape and the way that you have built your own voice around digital well-being advocacy and mental health advocacy? - That is exactly it. I think every founder is trying to build something that they needed for themselves. And on the moment you create something, you create it because you want to build a solution. But what you really don't realize in that moment is that you're embarking on the journey of a lifetime and it's a very spiritual journey, as I mentioned. One that you have with yourself, foundation takes you to that top. It rocks you to the bottom. And I think those moments, probably similar to parenting, really get you to get real about what matters to you and life, what your values are. And also the people that you want to have around you because building a business is, you know, it's not a job, it's really a life calling and it takes all hands on deck for teams to partnership, to family. The silent army that I have behind me that makes what I do possible at this point in time is like almost unbelievable. And I know there will be even more people that support me. And I just want to keep creating stages to share those voices too. And actually today our teams launched their own substack to help empower parents about the biggest challenges in the digital world. And I think we want to keep doing things like that, sharing the stage to the young people who are being impacted. - I love that. And, you know, on your website, their mantra of half the story is very big and like right front and center, which I love. It's like a very clear message. And for those who are listening, you can go look on the website for yourself, but I'll just share it here too. The mantra is digital wellbeing is a fundamental human right. Not all screen time is created equal. What you put in is what you get out. Technology can be a tool or a weapon you choose. So two questions here. First question. Can you talk a little bit more about that? What does that mean? How do we think about that? - Yeah, so that's a huge part of our work, which is really the idea that everyone looks at chalk screen time up to just the amount of hours you're spending, but in our work, what we're actually deeply focused on is getting kids to go from passive tech consumption and to active tech consumption through mindful modifications. And so one would say that what we're doing right now is a very active form of tech consumption. We're here, we're present, we're connecting over topics. We have a real reason to be in Riverside in this digital interface. However, if I get off this call because I'm tired and it's the end of the week, pick up my phone and start scrolling on Instagram with nothing other than basically a dream to pass time, that would be a passive form of tech consumption. And I'm gonna leave here probably feeling much more intellectually simulated and good about myself that I would going into a rabbit hole. And so what we try to do is get kids and people to notice those habits before they happen so that you can have more positive experiences in the digital world that not gonna want. - I think it actually relates to technology can be a tool or a weapon you get to choose. It's about where you're putting your attention towards what you're consuming. - Yes. - Right? Like I've been even thinking about this. What I really wanna do is do an Instagram cleanse and like get off of the app for a month. Realistically, I can't go cold turkey with it because I need it for my podcast like to promote my interviews and the events that I do. So I was thinking to myself, well, why don't I just not use the Stella's tough novelist Instagram for a month and just consume content with everyday endorphins? And I actually think that'd be an example of active tech consumption because the accounts that I would be following through that page are all related. Like they all fall under the umbrella of health and well-being and spirituality and motivational quotes. And I think that is reinforcing more positive messages to me than just looking at photos that people are posting or stories. I think stories as well. It gets to be like, oh, I have FOMO or I should be posting something. - Exactly. And I think as founders, it's funny because it's like, I was actually reading this really funny thing for a venture capitalist. It actually was an email that my dad sent me. He's always sending me very funny emails. And it was like basically about how a lot of companies fail, which is really great inspiration. And one of the things that was in the email was, you know, how a lot of founders like venture capitalists are like founders who are posting on social media, all of the stuff, but it like doesn't even mean that their business is doing well or that their product market fit. And I think it's super interesting right now because we almost live in this time where as a founder and I'm the first one to say it, you know, we almost rely on social media to create buzz and excitement around our businesses, but we're also like many days still behind the scenes dealing with challenging realities. So whether it be me, yesterday, like Holy Cow, like some people on my team, like something happened with the health and current trends that we applied for. Like I could have been at risk of having people uninsured if I didn't get someone to do something yesterday. Like there's just all these balls that constantly drop on a daily basis and like you have to go between making sure your employees are covered to getting on TV and then 10 minutes later asking someone for a million dollars in that order. And so it's like, it's such a crazy experience and it's like some days I wake up and it's like you get punched in the face a hundred times and then you get up and you can get punched in the face 200 times the next day. But as long as you don't leave the ring, then you know you're making progress. - Well, I love that your dad sends you emails 'cause so does mine and I used to be so resistant to it for so long, but there's a lot of wisdom out there of reading those articles that are being sent around and going back to really the mantra on your website and really like the mission that half the story follows. I think it's very interconnected and a very strong statement to really live by. And I see this blend and weave through in your offerings and in the programs, but I wanna hear more from you about how this messaging is advocated in the different types of programs that half the story runs. So I know there's social media, you, which I think stands for university and a few other different programs that you run, but can you talk a little bit more about, you know, how this messaging really is woven through across all the different offerings with half the story and ways are bringing this to the education system. - I think the main thing that we're trying to do is lead with the digital wellness revolution, which is like we don't have to live in victim and sickness mindset and the way that we're doing that is really through our core programming of social media, you. I, as an individual, spend a lot of time advocating for policy, almost like my own civic duty, but our organization, like 95% of what we do is focused on education. So we're working with under-resourced urban and rural communities, middle school through high school. And our program is actually a quarter-long intervention, we're actually potentially expanding it, the length of it. And the goal is to give kids the skills that they need to understand what's the connection between our emotional health and our digital habits and vice versa, and how do we actually have the skills to thrive and be in the driver's seat of our digital world. - I love that. There's a connection between our emotional health and our digital habits, because oftentimes we don't consciously make choices towards. how we engage with our technology, especially as a kid. Like, I didn't necessarily grow up with social media unless you can argue that, I don't know, being in middle school, you're growing up with it or high school even, but compared to people who are in elementary school now, like their lives are on their iPads or their iPhones. And it's like, when you're that young, you don't even have like the self-awareness around where the motivation comes for your behavior, your actions, your child. So how do you teach that to younger kids and adults, like seeing the relationship between their emotional health and how they interact with their platforms? I think for us, like, the first step is understanding. The second step is advocacy and the third step is action. And that's how we really lean into play and experience and show learning and understanding to make it as fun and as playful as possible for young people to participate. And so we focus on a lot of different skills, like emotional resilience, emotional contagion, self-compassion, you know, a lot of traditional SEL skills, but do it through going to the digital age because it's a completely different playing field and different experiences. You know, that's kind of what we focus on. And we're building on that skill set over time, more changing that literally as we speak because of everything that's happening with AI. Yeah, AI is a big hot topic. It's a chat GPT, Genai, it'll be interesting actually to see how that platform can enhance what you're doing too. What is the digital flourishing? Does that differentiate what we've been speaking towards? Is it even possible to flourish with your relationship to our digital world and products that we consume? So digital flourishing is a verified research skill and actually measures 21 different ways of how social technologies impact a young person from self-reported sleep, emotions, self-identity, academic engagement, relationship to others. And so I think, you know, when we say for us, like what we're trying to optimize for is a world where digital wellness is a priority and that we build a program that we can actively measure and track that supports digital flourishing. So think of digital flourishing as one of the metrics that goes beyond screen time that you can measure. Interesting. So in other words, how your emotional state maybe is influenced by the ways in which you're engaging with technology with the hopes that it's a positive, you know, relationship. You're using it in an intentional way, in an active way rather than passively consuming the ways, you know, whatever it is that you're viewing or that you're constantly putting on your screen, right? Exactly. And it's more of like an integrated approach of measuring how social technologies impact you, like in the simplest form. That's very fascinating. And I guess that it makes sense. It's more of an emerging area of research as well because we're still kind of at the beginning phases, right, of just seeing how social media is impacting our well-being. And it's interesting also because COVID, I think everything that came out of COVID and the ways that we engaged with technology during that time really ties into the part of your mantra and mission statement around technology can be a tool or a weapon. So during that time, we saw technology actually connect a lot of people and help to combat loneliness. So it's actually hard to have like a firm stance on this, I think, because it feels like there's this double edge sword. Like we know that lonely, there's a huge loneliness epidemic, right? And technology, when used maybe in a passive way, it can actually really isolate ourselves or feed into that sense of loneliness. But there's this beautiful ability, right, to connect people. 100%. And I think we want to be able to have more people be more connected online and that's the goal. And when you think about your own digital well-being practices, what were some changes that you had to meet in your life for in a specific period of time in your life that helped you create a healthier, like, digital wellness routine? I think the first thing is like, how do I strip my technology? So I actually don't have notifications. Like, if you look at my phone at any given time, even right now, like, there's my husband, but I don't have any notifications. So I actually have to open my phone to get notifications. I do not use my phone as my alarm. My husband loves using his phone as an alarm, even though I'm against it. And I want us to have an old school alarm clock. And I make sure that he sets the alarm and I leave plug my phone in the other room because I'm a workaholic and I know that I'd wake up and be like, gotta do this. I also wake up at like 4.45 AM. So wake up, do my showering, and then, you know, have my morning vibe. And by the time I go to yoga at 7, I've already had like two hours, basically. So I think like having that morning space, like, I love to wake up. I love to also have a pen and paper at my desk. I know that sounds so dumb, but it's not engaging your brain outside of your tack, especially when you're like, okay, what are my priorities? How do I want a brainstorm? How do I want to think about these comms? Like our brains just work differently off our screens and they do on them. Another thing is walk and talk. So one of the things that we've been doing more with our team is using audio-based AI platforms to take notes during one-on-ones so that we don't have to be on our screens. Like we need to see each other once a week online, but I don't need that every day. And like I certainly don't want to be on it every day. So making kind of video off meetings, the norm is one of the things that we're working on doing from a cultural perspective at half the story. And the goal for that is not so that you can then go multitask and do 12 things, but so that you can single task and maybe for you that means like walking around, maybe for you that means cleaning your house. Like honestly, when I do a phone call and I'm doing my dishes, like I'm way more focused than I am if I'm on my computer and I'm getting 400 texts and slacks. So I'm like, yeah, you want to go fold your kids' clothes and do our one-on-one. Let's do it. Just on me, the agenda beforehand and like we'll talk about it. Yeah, I love that. And that's actually so true. I've noticed for myself as well. If I'm taking calls in my apartment and like doing house-related activities, my camera's off, you actually have to be fully present and focused because you have to focus on one activity at that same time and then engage in conversation too. So right now, if you looked at my computer, I have a million tabs open. I am focused on this interview, but at any point I could get a ping. And that could be distracting or I could get an email come through. And it's like, I think it is really important to like take a meeting and not actually have to be on your computer. Like if you don't have to be on your computer for that meeting, make it the norm to not be, right? Exactly. And it's actually so you're going to laugh at this. Like this week, my team in our Monday meeting, they were like, Lars, I was like, yeah, what do you guys think there are some ways that we could bring more digital wellness and it's funny because like I was like, I don't want to use Slack anymore last year and they're like, we need to bring Slack back because now we have so many emails and like, okay, fine. We can bring Slack back because like I would just never respond to anyone on it. I was like, I can't like, I can't have 400 tabs open, which is funny. But yeah, so that's one of my projects for next week on Mondays to make sure that my team knows that I'm bringing back Slack. Slack's making a comeback, which honestly, I feel like it may be just the way that you engage with the platform can have a completely different outcome, right? If you do it in a different way. So I'm shocked that you wake up at 4.45 every morning. It's very early and I would love to hear more about your morning slash well-being routine at large. So you mentioned that you wake up, you shower, do whatever you're going to do in the morning and then you go to yoga. Is this like a daily ritual habit that you're in? Like do you like to get in movement in the morning? Okay, so I, this sounds very cheesy, but I really have my circadian rhythm is on fleek. As in, I currently live in Sonoma, California. So I spend a lot of time outside when I get stark out, I go to sleep, like I go to bed at eight o'clock, like legit, or we'll try to watch a movie and I crash. So I really do sleep and rise with the sun. And the winter I sleep a little bit later, obviously, then 4.45 because it's a little dark. But yeah, I usually try to wake up and do something mindfulness oriented. Some days that's meditation. Other days that's honestly folding my clothes and like cleaning my kitchen. And it sounds like so simple and stupid again. It's like so hard to find time to do things like clean and take showers sometimes. So I start my day with something mindful and then I really try to make a list of like, what are the things that I want to get through today that's going to make me feel good about this day because it's so easy to be busy but not accomplish anything. So I really, really try to come up with like three things that I want to accomplish, three big rocks. And without fail, I usually go to yoga at like 7 a.m. five days a week. And that's like my hot yoga moment. It also gives me the opportunity to like, if I did work on deep work before yoga, take a break and then usually go into meetings. But my brain works best in the morning and it works worse at night. So I try to build my life around my body as opposed to make my body fit into the norms that everyone else just tells us we should be doing. I love that. I mean, I also resonate with being more of a morning person. There's something very special about being awake when most people are not and having that quiet time to yourself. I actually taught yoga this morning at 615, which was so early. And I feel like I've lived multiple lives on this Friday. I swear, like I woke up at 530, which was so early for me. And I was like, okay, gotta go teach my yoga class. And I went, taught yoga for an hour, 715 rolls around and I'm like, great. This is normally when I'd start an early morning workout. So I got in my little incline walk and then I sat in the steam room. I showered like it was a great morning. And then I got back to my apartment, had breakfast, had coffee, checking my emails. It's 930 in the morning. And I felt so accomplished. Literally the best feeling ever. And now it's like almost 5 o'clock Eastern. And I feel like I've had such a full day. And I have noticed that when I start my mornings with some time for mindfulness, whether it's mindful movement or a meditation, whatever it is, like some quiet time, it really, really sets the tone. No, I mean, it changes your life, honestly, like just to like have a morning routine and be like, this is my time, no one's talking to me, including like my own family. And that's nice. It's also where I think we get our best ideas, like I think one time I have like a, I don't know, I have very early calls and people are like, you're crazy, but it works for me. I think we also have to learn our bodies just as we have to learn our minds and we have to build our life around them if we want to be at top performance and also be happy. You know, I want to shift gears a little bit to talking more about happiness and joy and how that is so tied to our mental health and our wellbeing. So obviously, everyday endorphins is all about finding ways to cultivate the smaller moments of joy in life. And I think the founder's perspective is really interesting because being a founder, you are like living and breathing your passion. I mean, I guess that's the hope. And with that comes a lot of stress and challenges. So how have you navigated and how do you continue to navigate the stress that appears in your life with your work, which is so blended into like who you are as a person because this is your passion. It's funny because most of my stress is not from work. It's balancing being a human and work at the same time. I think that's overwhelming peace. Like, oh, how am I going to shower, clean my house, do all these things, be a good partner, call my grandparents, like, well, also slaying dragons. And I think anyone that says, okay, I can do it all is just lying to you and you can't do it all, but you have to ask for help and you have to also know your weaknesses and you have to be humble about what those are to the people in your life in order to deepen those relationships as opposed to weaken them, which as a founder is really easy to do if you're prioritizing your business all the time. But I would say, you know, I really appreciate the simple things. Like there's nothing I love more than watching Netflix eating popcorn and candy. Like that to me is joy. You know, I love dance classes. I love playing with my pugs. I love making cakes and like now that my life is so crazy and I travel like pretty much every week. Like those moments have become the million dollar moments for me. You know, it's like almost like the moments of feeling like you're a kid again where, you know, you don't have a place to be, you know, you bringing boredom back, like driving curiosity and creativity and like that's really what I am to do. I love that. There is actually a lot of value in experiencing boredom, something that was hard for me to learn and sit with, especially over the past year. But there's so much creativity that comes from quietness and actually just being bored for a little. And this culture where we're like taught to be on overdrive all the time, I don't think that is the healthiest thing often to experience. So I love that you mentioned this idea of just like enjoying boredom. The final question I want to leave you with Lars is a question that I ask every guest on the podcast. What is something that brings you a bit of endorphins every single time? My pugs. I literally have a pug necklace. I have pug rings and I love my pugs. I love that. Pets, they bring a lot of love, a lot of joy. I wish I had a pet growing up very sad that I didn't have a dog. But maybe one day that's in my future. And I think, I mean, so many people have shared something similar, like their dogs bring them joy or just really connection. It's really that connection and that like love and care bond. Where can my listeners connect with you, Lars? Where can they follow half the story? Where can they stay plugged into the community? So half the story is on social media. My personal Instagram is live in like Lars and we actually have a new sub stack called in the loop that our teens created that keep parents, young people, even old people like me, even I'm not 30 yet, up to speed on what the biggest challenges are in trends in the digital world. So we love to be part of the digital wellness revolution. It takes all of us to make this revolution happen and I really appreciate you featuring me today. Yeah. Thank you. I take everyone, you know, commitment and participation and I'll link all of that information into the show notes. So everyone who's listening can check half the story out and connect with Lars. And as we wrap up today, one final message, one final takeaway that you'd like to leave with my audience, what can people do to feel empowered to just find more digital well-being in their lives? Turn off your notifications. It's the first step. I love that. Simple, actionable and easy. Well, thank you so much, Lars. It was fantastic having you as a guest on the podcast. Thank you so much. I'm excited to watch it come out. Thanks for listening to this episode of Everyday Endorphins. If you liked what you heard, make sure to like, rate and review this podcast on whichever platform you prefer. You can also follow along the Everyday Endorphins Instagram account to stay up to date with episodes, future events and all things related to mental health, well-being and happiness. Don't forget to keep spreading Endorphins and find things in life that bring you joy every day. Until next time.