Rebel Human

10/15/2024

When I realized Facebook was becoming all consuming for many people (sometime in 2012), I saw all the red flags. As a teenager in the early 90s, fashion magazines had wrecked my self-image so I knew what comparison could do to youth mental health. I knew that Facebook would be 1000x worse. I started talking to my daughters about it (then 3 and 5 years old) because they were old enough to notice how many people were glued to their screens. It pained me to think that they would grow up thinking that was normal.

I managed to keep my kids off of social media until they were sophomores in high school and we had many conversations along the way about focus, preventative mental health, and the gift of being bored. We watched The Social Dilemma and I went from using social media for business, to stopping completely.

As predicted, social media is 1000x more damaging than fashion magazines. We are now in a youth mental health crisis with the Surgeon General calling for warning labels on social media. Yet, we still see train cars full of people with eyes glued to their phones, couples sitting in restaurants both looking at their phones rather than each other, and school halls during passing periods eerily quiet because nearly every student is walking with their eyes down on their phones.

The problem has not been solved. We are not just losing our youth to anxiety and depression, we are losing creativity, focus, and innovation. We are losing original thoughts. We are losing human connection and the human growth that it sparks. We are losing sleep, which leads to loss of productivity, creativity, clarity, and patience. All because of this tiny, yet powerful computer in our pockets and more specifically, social media.
LOOK is going to solve this problem. Please VOTE for LOOK here: https://www.tallyspace.com/652ac3edca223

10/14/2024

Please vote for LOOK! You can help get us to the next round so I can pitch for $100K. We have already taken the prize from our first round win and started building our MVP. Our waitlist for LOOK is growing and winning the $100K will help us finish V1 and increase our reach so that teens & parents can start having a healthy relationship with their phones and start increasing their off-screen experiences.

Vote for LOOK here: https://lnkd.in/gnF_vSaA

10/09/2024

LOOK is an advanced AI-driven SaaS platform empowering teens, young adults, and families to break free from excessive screen time and cultivate healthier digital habits. Unlike traditional screen-time trackers, LOOK goes beyond mere usage monitoring; it uses hyper-personalized AI-driven nudges and well-being interventions grounded in behavioral science to guide users toward healthier habits.

The platform adapts to each user’s goals, personality, and motivations, tailoring its approach to meet individual needs. By continuously learning from user interactions and considering contextual factors such as time of day and location, LOOK provides increasingly relevant support. This personalized and adaptive strategy effectively addresses user needs, nudging them away from excessive screen time and promoting overall well-being.

To incentivize positive behavior change, LOOK features a point system that unlocks real-world rewards, enhancing user retention by motivating continued engagement. This combination of tailored support and practical incentives helps users build a healthier relationship with technology while prioritizing their mental and physical health.

www.looktheapp.com/waitlist

10/09/2024

How many times have you asked your kid to get off their phone?

I'm building an app that will do the protecting and policing for you so you get a break and your kids can get their time, focus, and joy back. LOOK is built to help you and your kids scroll less and live more.

Get on the waitlist here: www.looktheapp.com/waitlist

11/18/2021

Do you know that terrible feeling when you've been pulled into scrolling your feed and all of a sudden it's been 30 minutes and you missed the time you had set aside to workout or meditate? We do.

Have you felt that disappointment in yourself after comparing your insides to someone else's carefully curated IG outsides? We have.

Are you scared by how divided our country is and terrified to see how Facebook is undermining democracy, poisoning social discourse with defactualized information, and hurting teen's mental health? We are.

We have always been reluctant users, but as a small business, we’ve been told it’s a must. With the growing evidence of the harm FB/IG does to mental health and democracy, we can no longer support them. If you are a small business, artist, or activist who uses them to amplify your message, we aren’t passing judgement.

Our judgement rests entirely on FB/IG- it’s algorithms that harm children (esp. teen girls), sow division, promote disinformation, and undermine democracy.

As we debated this move, we asked ourselves if leaving FB/IG would hurt our company. We aren’t sure, but we have to stand by our rebel human values. We are doing the hard thing when it’s the right thing.

FB/IG is the most efficient ad platform ever, yet it is called a social networking site. Their $1T value isn’t because of community building, but because of the data it collects on you. The best minds (and AIs) in the world work to use your data to leverage your vulnerability to keep you logged on. They leverage your fear which leads to dangerous polarization, and sparring groups full of contempt. There is no real oversight. Without guidance, the brain will focus on fear. It’s irresponsible to toy with that for profit.

While we are away we encourage you to log into your life: fresh air, eye contact, hugs, quiet, creativity, and calm away from social media. Don’t compare your insides with someone else’s outsides. Beauty lives in the complexity, messiness, and raw humanness that we all feel and that’s impossible to convey on FB/IG.

Maybe it’s time for you to log off too. Remember, there was life before social media. Live it.

11/17/2021

Why we are leaving FB/IG: We have always been reluctant users, but as a small business, we’ve been told it’s a must. With the growing evidence of the harm FB/IG does to mental health and democracy, we can no longer support them. If you are a small business, artist, or activist who uses them to amplify your message, we aren’t passing judgement.

Our judgement rests entirely on FB/IG- it’s algorithms that harm children (esp. teen girls), sow division, promote disinformation, and undermine democracy.

FB/IG is the most efficient ad platform ever, yet it is called a social networking site. Their $1T value isn’t because of community building, but because of the data it collects on you. The best minds (and AIs) in the world work to use your data to leverage your vulnerability to keep you logged on. They leverage your fear which leads to dangerous polarization, and sparring groups full of contempt. There is no real oversight. Without guidance, the brain will focus on fear. It’s irresponsible to toy with that for profit. We don’t stand by Zuckerberg’s insistence on “free expression” when FB’s algorithms manipulate and tarnish it.

Facebook, you have the money and talent to alter the platforms to connect people around common good. You can sow seeds that could save democracy and encourage mental health. With that much power, FB/Insta has to be held accountable to the public good, to democracy, to truth- not it’s own profit. Until then, we say no more.

While we are away we encourage you to log into your life: fresh air, eye contact, hugs, quiet, creativity, and calm away from social media. Don’t compare your insides with someone else’s outsides. Beauty lives in the complexity, messiness, and raw humanness that we all feel and that’s impossible to convey on FB/IG.

Maybe it’s time for you to log off too. Remember, there was life before social media. Live it.

10/12/2021

Like a dream recalled — the pieces became whole. Light, time, space, color, water, and jungle, merged. A place imagined, then found.

Just three spots left in our February 2022 women’s retreat in Yelapa. Join us, and find yourself again.

Link in bio for details.

09/23/2021

We are excited to collaborate with Madame ZuZu’s to bring this soundbath to you. All proceeds go to RefugeeOne

Join us for a 1-hour sound bath brought to you by Jenny Arrington of Rebel Human. Tickets are proceeds going to Refugee One.

09/21/2021

In any moment you are feeling agitated, anxious, angry, hopeless, or afraid you have the power to SEAC. This is a powerful tool to regain autonomy over your life and it’s a foundational component of our Rebel Human Schools program, now being taught to close to 4,000 high school students.

Stop: press pause on what you are doing, even if that means closing your eyes to stop reading, or standing still if you are walking, or maybe finding a quiet corner to be alone for a moment.

Exhale: squeeze out all the air, then relax your belly and let the air rush back in. remember, shifting your breath is the fastest way to shift how you feel, and starting with the exhale is the best way to recalibrate your breath.

Attend: check in with yourself. notice the physical sensations in your body (tightness in chest or throat, rapid heart beat, butterflies in stomach, fatigue, sweaty palms)—these sensations are giving you helpful information about what you need

Connect: use one of our practices to shift your nervous system and build new neural connections in the brain—or connect by talking with a supportive friend or adult. remember, taking the time to build helpful neural and social connections now will pay dividends in the future.

09/10/2021

What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” - Mary Oliver

If you are feeling burned-out and uninspired, like you need an upgrade to your imagination operating system, we understand! And, we would love for you to join us and find yourself again.

Our Rebel Human Women’s retreat is quickly filling, but we do have a few more spots! Some details are below. Link in bio for all the details!

WHAT
A Women's Retreat. An opportunity to immerse yourself in the Rebel Human methodology for building strength, resilience, clarity of purpose, and big imagination.

Each day you will be guided through meditation, movement, and neurocoaching exercises that will transform your understanding of yourself and the world around you. Each evening ends with a sound bath under the vast expanse of an unsullied sky.

Classes and lectures are led by Rebel Human co-founders Jenny Arrington and Tait Medina.

Open to just 15 women, the small group setting allows for intimacy, connection with your teachers, and the opportunity to pierce the veneer of performative wellness and do the work that leads to real and lasting change.

WHEN
February 9 - 14, 2022

WHERE
Yelapa, Mexico

Fifteen miles southwest of Puerto Vallarta, secluded in a remote cove between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Madre mountains, Yelapa is for the intrepid adventurer. There are no roads and no cars and it can be reached only by boat.

Our boutique sanctuary is nestled in the lush Mexican jungle, surrounded by waterfalls and breathtaking views of the ocean. The property is comprised of just 9 houses (and a freestanding, open air library), each unique in the story it tells. Some houses are almost entirely open air. Some can be shared.​ Every house has a large private patio with stunning views.