HeadbyI grew up drinking water from whatever hose was nearby. There were no phones, no infinite scroll, no likes, no influencers. You spent time with other people because you had to. There was not much else to do.
For the last 25 years we have built the engagement mechanics that keep people stuck to screens. Headby is using your screen for the opposite purpose: getting people together, so that for a little while they can put their devices down.
We are not here to say phones are poison. We are here because the research on relationships is hard to ignore.
higher odds of survival for people with stronger social relationships.
A review of 148 studies covering about 309,000 people.
Holt-Lunstad et al., PLOS Medicine, 2010higher likelihood of dying earlier.
Holt-Lunstad et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2015higher life satisfaction.
One large Canadian survey.
Helliwell and Wang, NBER working paper, 2010of US adults said they had no close friends.
Survey Center on American Life, 2021people worldwide are affected by loneliness.
WHO, June 2025The evidence here is more mixed, and we try to say so.
In a randomised trial, adults who stepped away spent more time with family and friends and reported higher wellbeing.
Allcott et al., American Economic Review, 2020Very large studies find the average link between screen time and teenagers’ wellbeing is tiny. Researchers disagree about how much is cause and how much is coincidence.
Orben and Przybylski, Nature Human Behaviour, 2019So we do not claim that screens cause harm for everyone. We do believe time spent together in person is good for you, and that it needs a place to start.
Most of this research is observational. It shows links between relationships and wellbeing, not proof of cause. Figures are quoted from the sources linked above and were last checked in October 2026.