About Us — Kizzuna

Our Story

We started
asking questions
for ourselves.

In 11th grade, Ben and Kei ran a two-week experiment. Delete the apps. Eat together. Sit in silence. Meditate every morning. They bribed people with Chipotle to show up. It worked — not because of the detox, but because of the space it created. For two weeks, people put down their phones because something better was happening in the room.

That was the insight: the Happiness Project didn't work because we took something away. It worked because we gave something back. A space where people could be present, feel seen, and actually connect. That kind of space doesn't need a detox to sustain it. It needs to exist in the first place.

What if every campus had a version of that conversation? One that starts before the phone — with the spaces that were already disappearing — and gets honest about what we actually need? That question became Kizzuna.

The Happiness Project was a two-week experiment. Kizzuna is the attempt to make it last.

Our Mission

What we actually
believe.

You're not broken.

The feeling that your attention is shattered, that you scroll past things you don't even care about — that's not a personal failure. It's the predictable outcome of apps designed by some of the best engineers in the world to capture and hold you. Understanding that doesn't get you off the hook. But it does change the question you're asking.

This crisis started long before the phone arrived.

We usually tell a story where social media caused the mental health crisis. Zoom out and the timeline tells a different story. Free play started disappearing in the 70s and 80s. Community life hollowed out before Facebook existed. The phone didn't create an empty space — it arrived into one. That changes what the solution looks like.

We're focused on what we give back, not what we take away.

The whole conversation is framed around taking things away: take away the phones, ban the apps, do a detox. We're more interested in the other side of that equation. What are we giving back? Free play. Third places. Communities where you belong without needing a reason. When that space exists, the phone just becomes less interesting on its own.

Detoxes work when they create space — not just eliminate screens.

We ran our first detox in 11th grade. It worked. But not because we convinced people to put down their phones. It worked because for two weeks, we created a space where people could actually connect — eat together, sit in silence together, feel seen. The phone wasn't the problem. The absence of that space was. Build the space first.

The People

Meet the team.

We are college students. We made something we believe in. And we show up every time we speak because we know the conversations matter.

Co-Founder

Ben Forman

Ben has been running social experiments on himself since he was 17. First a two-week detox. Then a month of five hours a day on his phone. Then a documentary. Then a speaking tour. Somewhere in the middle of all that, he figured out what the problem actually is. Kizzuna is his answer.

Chief of Operations

Kei

Kei co-founded the Happiness Project alongside Ben, running the original two-week detox that started everything. Since then, he's been the finance lead and strategic advisor on the project

Lead Growth

Valentin Melo

Studying Cognitive Science at Columbia University, Valentin got into our work at Kizzuna through Kei. He has been an essential component of our fundraising stradegy and school outreach. Hilton

We started with a two-week experiment in 11th grade. Now we're speaking at schools from Florida to Colorado — and we're just getting started.

Timeline

How we got here.

11th Grade

The Happiness Project.

Ben and Kei ran a two-week social media detox and daily meditation out of their high school. They bribed their friends with Chipotle. It worked — not because people put down their phones, but because they created a space where people actually wanted to be present.

The Experiment

Five hours a day, for a month.

While making the documentary, Ben went back on social media as hard as he could — five hours a day for thirty days. He expected to crash. He didn't. That confusion broke open the real question: what actually makes the phone a problem?

The Turning Point

A conversation in Florida.

After a talk at a school, a 10th grader named Jack said: "I've tried. I can't. I don't have a car, there's no park near me. I literally have nothing to do except be on my phone." That reframed everything.

Now

Florida to Colorado — and counting.

The film is made. The conversation is on campuses across the country. And the question has gotten clearer: what are we giving back — not just taking away?

We're the
generation
they were
worried about.

We started
asking questions
for ourselves.