Home › The Problem
The case for change

A generation is being harvested
for its attention.

The most valuable companies on earth spend billions engineering products to capture our children's focus. The damage is now measured by governments, litigated in court, and legislated against worldwide. That convergence is both a moral emergency and the largest opening in children's media in a generation.

1 · The reckoning has reached the courts

Big Tech is now on trial for how it treats children

Up to ~$1.4 trillion

is what US state attorneys-general are seeking from Meta in civil penalties and disgorgement, heading into a landmark trial in the Northern District of California in August 2026 — a sum approaching Meta's entire market value.
Framed accurately: this is a disputed pre-trial demand for statutory penalties (COPPA & consumer-protection), not an awarded judgment. Meta contests it. Source: JURIST / court filings, Jul 2026.

Already awarded

$375M

A New Mexico jury's verdict against Meta in March 2026 — the first state trial win against a major platform over child safety.

The coalition

42 AGs

Attorneys-general sued Meta in October 2023, alleging knowingly addictive design and violations of children's privacy law.

Consolidated

2,000+ suits

Personal-injury and school-district cases against Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube are consolidated in federal MDL 3047.

Meta's own leaked research (the 2021 "Facebook Files") showed the company knew Instagram worsened body image for 1 in 3 teenage girls. The question is no longer whether these products harm children — it is who builds the alternative.

2 · Attention and learning are measurably declining

The kids are not alright — and the data is government-grade

−15 points

The unprecedented fall in average maths scores across OECD countries in PISA 2022 — roughly three-quarters of a school year of learning. Reading fell ~10 points, and had been declining before the pandemic. OECD, Dec 2023.

27% → 14%

The share of US 13-year-olds who read for pleasure "almost every day" — halved between 2012 and 2023. In the UK, reading enjoyment among 8–18s hit its lowest level on record in 2024. US NEA; UK National Literacy Trust.

Reading, focus and deep attention — the raw materials of learning — are eroding in exactly the age band Iam Awesome serves. A product that rebuilds a child's capacity for focus, story and self-reflection is not a "nice to have." It is remedial infrastructure for a generation.

3 · A youth mental-health crisis, officially declared

The emotional cost is now public health

The depression/anxiety risk for teens using social media more than 3 hrs/day — the average teen uses ~3.5 hrs/day (US Surgeon General, 2023)
57%
Of US teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021 — a decade high (53% in 2023). Source: CDC
5h 33m
Daily entertainment screen media for the average 8–12-year-old (Common Sense Media)

Australia: around 1 in 2 young Australians report high or very-high psychological distress (headspace), and the Weet-Bix "Feed the Belief" study of 27,000 students found optimism collapses from 84% to 60% as children move through school. The confidence gap is the exact whitespace Iam Awesome was built to fill.

Note on rigour: the correlation between screen use and distress is officially recognised; the claim that phones are the sole proven cause is scientifically contested. We present the trends, not an overclaim — investors reward accuracy.

4 · Regulation has changed the game — in our favour

The world is legislating Big Tech away from kids

This is the cleanest "why now." Governments are converging on a single premise — that unrestricted social media harms children — and in doing so are clearing the field for parent-approved, developmental alternatives.

Australia · in force

Under-16 social-media ban

Live since 10 December 2025 across 10 major platforms, with penalties up to ~A$49.5M. 4.7M+ under-16 accounts actioned by January 2026. The parent is now, unambiguously, the buyer.

United States

30+ states, phone-free schools

28 states acted in 2025 alone, covering 21.7M+ students. The federal KOSA effort signals direction of travel.

Europe

EU Digital Services Act

Preliminary findings (Oct 2025) that Meta and TikTok breached child-protection duties; fines reach 6% of global revenue.

United Kingdom

Online Safety Act

Live since July 2025, with Ofcom fines already issued and a binding Children's Code.

The turn

We don't fight the screen. We outgrow it.

You can't watch every screen. But you can give a child a voice inside that is louder than the algorithm — one that says I matter, I see you, I believe in you. That is Inspired Learning. That is the antidote we are building, across eight divisions.

See the solution — the ecosystem → The investment opportunity