By KAITLYN HUAMANI, AP Technology Writer

It’s simple to accidentally become entranced by an endless loop of videos on Instagram or TikTok. But sometimes, that mindless scroll is interrupted by a reminder that what you thought was a 10-minute break spent on your phone was closer to 30 minutes.

Olivia Yokubonis, armed with a kind voice and scientific research, often pops up in feeds on social platforms, gently reminding viewers that they might not remember the video they saw two videos before she appeared on the screen.

Yokubonis is a content creator who goes by the name Olivia Unplugged online, making videos to combat overuse or mindless use of social media. For the most part, people who view her videos welcome the disruption from the endless loop of content, treating it as a wake-up call to get off their phones. Other times, they are snarky.

“People will comment and they’ll be like, ’Oh, (it’s) ironic that you’re posting. And I’m like, ‘Where else am I supposed to find you, Kyle? Outside? You’re not outside. You are here, sitting here,’” she said. “For us to actually be seen, we have to be where people are.”

Yokubonis’ content responds to the feeling many people have, that they spend too much time on social media or apps.

“Most people have no clue how much time they spend on social media,” said Ofir Turel, a professor of information systems management at the University of Melbourne who has been studying social media use for years. Through his research, Turel found that when he presented people with their screen time information, they were practically “in a state of shock” and many people voluntarily reduced their usage afterwards.

Yokubonis is part of a growing group of content creators who make videos encouraging viewers to close out the app they’re on. Some are aggressive in their approach, some more tame; some only occasionally post about social media overuse, and some, like Yokubonis, devote their accounts to it.

She works for Opal, a screen time app designed to help users “reclaim their focus,” she said, but those who engage with her content might not have any idea she is working for the company. Brand logos, constant plugs to download the app and other signs of branding are almost entirely absent from her page. “People love hearing from people,” she said. Millions of views on her videos point to that being true.

“It’s a fine line and a balance of finding a way to be able to cut through that noise but also not adding to the noise,” she added.

Ian A. Anderson, a postdoctoral scholar at California Institute of Technology, said he finds this kind of content interesting, but is curious whether it’s disruptive enough to prompt action. He also said he wonders whether those with the strongest scrolling habits are “thoughtless about the way (they’re) intaking information.”

“If they’re paying full attention, I feel like it could be an effective disruption, but I also think there is a degree to which, if you are really a habitual scroller, maybe you aren’t fully engaging with it,” he said. “I can think of all sorts of different variables that could change the effectiveness, but it does sound like an interesting way to intervene from the inside.”

With billions of active users across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms, talk of cutting down on screen time is perennial, as is the idea of addiction to social platforms. But there’s tremendous disagreement over whether social media addiction actually exists.

Is social media “addiction” real?

Researchers, psychologists and other experts agree some people spend too much time on social media, but the agreement tends to stop there. Some researchers question whether addiction is the appropriate term to describe heavy use of social media, arguing that a person must be experiencing identifiable symptoms, like strong, sometimes uncontrollable urges and withdrawal, to qualify as addiction. Others, like Turel, acknowledge the term seems to resonate with more people and is often used colloquially.

Anderson said he recognized the prevalence of casual mentions of being addicted to phones and was curious to see if that talk was “benign.”

A recent study of his suggests the debate extends further than academic discourse. In a representative sample of active Instagram users, Anderson found that people often overestimate whether they are “addicted” to the app. On a self-report scale, 18% of participants agreed that they were at least somewhat addicted to Instagram and 5% indicated substantial agreement, but only 2% of participants were deemed at risk of addiction based on their symptoms. Believing you are addicted also impacts how you address that issue, Anderson said.

“If you perceive yourself as more addicted, it actually hurts your ability to control your use or your perception of that ability and makes you kind of blame yourself more for overuse,” Anderson said. “There are these negative consequences to addiction perception.”

Cutting down on screen time

For those looking to curb their social media habits, Anderson suggests making small, meaningful, changes to stop from opening your social media app of choice. Moving the app’s place on your phone or turning off notifications are “light touch interventions,” but more involved options, like not bringing your phone into the bedroom — or other places where you often use it — could also help.

Plenty of intervention methods have been offered to consumers in the form of products or services. But those interventions require self awareness and a desire to cut down on use. Content creators who infiltrate social media feeds with information about the psychology behind why people scroll for hours a day can plant those early seeds.

Cat Goetze, who goes by CatGPT online, makes “non-pretentious, non-patronizing” content about artificial intelligence, building off her experience in the tech industry. But she’s also been on a lengthy road to cut down her own screen time. She often makes videos about why the platforms are so compelling and why we tend to spend longer than we anticipate on them.

“There’s a whole infrastructure — there’s an army of nerds whose only job is to get you to increase your time spent on that platform,” she said. “There’s a whole machine that’s trying to get you to be that way and it’s not your fault and you’re not going to win this just (through) willpower.”

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Goetze also founded the business Physical Phones, which makes Bluetooth landline phones that connect to smartphones, encouraging people to spend less time on their devices. The inside of the packaging reads “offline is the new luxury.”

She was able to build the business at an accelerated pace thanks to her social media audience. But the early success of Physical Phones also demonstrates the demand for solutions to high screen time, she said.

“Social media will always play a part in our lives. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. If we can get the average screen time down from, if it’s 10 hours for a person to one hour, or from three hours to 30 minutes, that is going to be a net positive benefit for that individual and for society,” Goetze said. “That being said, I’d love to be the person that they’re watching for those 30 minutes.”

Don’t be put off by the designation of “stew” in the title of this delicious dish. The concoction is delicious and packed with veggies (you can add more if you wish). This mix is a scrumptious way to get vegetables happily down the kid’s gullets. Use the style of smallish pasta you like best, such as penne, ziti, or farfalle.

Vegetable and Pasta ‘Stew’

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium eggplant, unpeeled, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces, about 3 1/2 cups

1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped

10 green onions, trimmed of roots and dark green stalks, white and light green portion cut into 1-inch pieces

1 red bell pepper, seeded, cored, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 head of cauliflower, cored, divided into florets

1 medium zucchini, trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, to taste

Pasta

1 pound small dried pasta, such as penne, ziti, bow-tie

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for garnish

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. For vegetables: Heat olive oil in large deep skillet. When hot, add eggplant and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until browned on all sides. It will absorb most of the oil. Add red onion, green onions, bell pepper, and cauliflower (add a tiny bit of oil if needed); gently toss. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add zucchini and cook, covered, for another 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Gently toss and set aside.

2. For pasta: Bring about 4 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add pasta and cook al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water. Drain pasta.

3. In large bowl, place reserved pasta-cooking water, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 2 tablespoons oil, salt and pepper; stir. Add pasta and toss. Stir in reserved vegetables. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Pass some Parmesan cheese for optional topping.

Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at CathyThomasCooks.com.

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By JONEL ALECCIA

Protein just got a big boost from U.S. health officials.

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The latest federal dietary guidelines tell Americans to “prioritize protein foods at every meal” and advise increasing daily intake — up to double the amount of previous recommendations.

“We are ending the war on protein,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a White House post on social media.

The guidance — including a new food pyramid — emphasizes red meat, whole milk and other animal sources of protein, while downplaying plant-based offerings.

But top nutrition experts question the protein push, saying Americans already consume more protein than they need, and there’s no new evidence that people need to drastically ramp up consumption. For many people, eating much more protein could lead to more fat and more cases of diabetes, they say.

“If you’re actively building muscle with strength or resistance training, more protein can help,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a Tufts University nutrition expert. “Otherwise, you’re getting enough.”

Others worry that the dietary advice will accelerate the trend of companies encouraging Americans to embrace extra protein in foods including bars, cereals and snacks – even water.

Sales of protein-enriched packaged food will increase at a time “when one of the main messages is ‘eat real food, eat whole foods,’” said Christopher Gardner, a nutrition expert at Stanford University. “I think they’re going to confuse the public in a big way.”

Here’s what you need to know about the new protein recommendations:

What is protein and how much do people need?

Protein is a macronutrient that is in every cell in the human body. It’s vital for growth and repair of muscle, bone, skin, hair and other organs and tissues. It’s made of building blocks called amino acids, including some that the body doesn’t make and must come from food.

For decades, the U.S. dietary guidelines and other sources have recommended that people consume 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day, or about 54 grams daily for a 150-pound person.

The new recommendation advises people to consume 1.2 grams to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight — up to double the previous advice. The guidance says adults should consume at least 100 grams of protein per day with half or more coming from animal sources.

The average adult man already consumes about 100 grams of protein a day, or twice the old recommendation.

Why did the new dietary guidelines change?

The previous protein recommendations were calculated to prevent a nutrition deficiency, according to a scientific review published with the new dietary guidelines.

“It represents the lowest intake that maintains equilibrium in most healthy adults but does not reflect the intake required to maintain optimal muscle mass or metabolic function under all conditions,” the review said.

The new document relied on evidence from 30 studies that looked at the effects of higher protein diets on weight management and nutrient adequacy.

It concluded that protein intakes well above the previous guidance “are safe and compatible with good health.”

What’s the harm of eating more protein?

Nutrition experts noted that trials focusing on weight reduction aren’t typically used to make dietary recommendations for the general population. And, in a new article published in Journal of the American Medical Association, Mozaffarian said there is little evidence, outside of use for strength or resistance training, that “higher protein builds muscle or provides other health benefits.”

“In fact, excess dietary protein can be converted to fat by the liver,” Mozaffarian wrote. That can increase the risk of the development of dangerous fat in the abdomen that surrounds vital organs and boost the risk of diabetes, he added.

Protein in processed foods

Other nutrition experts said the recommendation to eat more protein could be useful if it helps achieve another key goal of the new guidelines: encouraging people to eat more whole foods and fewer highly processed foods such as packaged snacks and cookies.

“The main problem with the food supply is the processed carbohydrates,” said Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital.

But that will be a tall order for consumers faced with a slew of processed packaged foods — including toaster pastries, cereals and salty snacks — imbued with the halo of added protein.

“I think the American public’s gonna go buy more junk food,” Gardner said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By MAE ANDERSON, AP Business Writer

Melia & Co appears to be a small family-run business. The sweaters on its website feature a photo of a woman hand-knitting a Christmas design. The caption says that after decades of creating knitwear that tells “quiet stories of care and beauty,” she is closing her little studio and the pieces on offer are her last.

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The website of Olivia Westwood Boutique also spotlights a charming backstory. The “About Us” section states that twin sisters run the shop their mother opened in 1972 and share her commitment to a a business “rooted in family, community and women uplifting women.” Shoppers could take advantage of a sale honoring the boutique’s late founder on what would have been her 95th birthday.

But neither store is what it appears. Both display many of the same Icelandic, Nordic and festive sweaters with identical stock images. Their website domains were registered in China in November, ahead of the holiday shopping season. Negative reviews of both proliferate on consumer review websites such as Trustpilot, where users report receiving shoddy goods that were difficult to return.

Melia & Co. did not return a request for more information about the owners. A close look at a pop-up ad describing Nola Rene, the 72-year-old Swedish knitter who is supposedly hanging up her knitting needles, reveals the word “advertorial” at the top and at the bottom, a disclaimer saying the people in the photos are models. At least three other shopping sites also sell the sweaters “lovingly hand-knitted in small batches.”

Olivia Westwood Boutique responded to an email query about where it was based and who owned the business by saying it was an online boutique “working with trusted global fulfillment partners to serve our customers.”

Online shopping scams are not unusual. About 36% of Americans failed to receive refunds after purchasing an item online that they said never arrived or turned out to be counterfeit, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April 2025 and published in July. Faster and more sophisticated digital tools are only making it even harder for consumers to spot if what they are seeing is too good to be true.

Some vendors and fraudsters have taken advantage of AI-generated images to create websites that have an aura of artisan authenticity or that point to a long history as a trusted small retailer, said Seth Ketron, a marketing professor at The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“It’s getting more and more common,” Ketron said. “If you’re not careful or you’re really paying close attention, or you don’t really even know what to look for or what AI photos look like, it’s easy to kind of just gloss over or miss that it’s probably not real.”

Misleading e-commerce ads often pop up on social media feeds or appear as banners on other kinds of websites. Experts say there are some simple steps shoppers can take to distinguish a legitimate small merchant from a suspicious one before clicking “buy.”

Check for verifiable details

Deanna Newman owns C’est La Vie, an online jewelry retailer in Ontario, Canada, and learned about mall-business impersonation scams the hard way. A person claiming to have received low-quality goods from her site left an irate comment on Newman’s Facebook page. Alarmed, she looked but she could not find a record of the order.

Newman concluded a scammer was using the name of her store for several shopping sites selling jewelry. When people went online to complain about inferior products, they landed on her site. There were C’est La Vie websites claiming to have brick-and-mortar locations in New York, Birmingham, England, Dublin, Ireland, and other cities, which didn’t actually exist.

“Sometimes people were receiving products from China and very low-grade jewelry, and then some people weren’t receiving things at all,” Newman said.

She dealt with the complaints, put a warning on her Facebook page and online shop about the misleading C’est la Vie web sites, and posted videos on Instagram and TikTok to demonstrate she was a real person with a real business. Some of the copycat sites were taken down. But an influx of poor reviews and complaints nonetheless hurt her sales, she said.

Newman advises shoppers to look for a verifiable address or other details that may indicate a site is authentic. When in doubt, reach out to the owner by email, phone or contact form. If they are genuine, they should be happy to reply, she said.

“It’s hard, because the consumer has to do a little bit of research on their side, but I would say, too, that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is,” Newman said.

Beware a sob story

Including fake hardship stories along with ads is one technique online scammers use to draw in potential buyers. Common ploys include announcing a “going-out-of-business” sale or a sale to honor a late son, daughter or grandmother.

Newman said the people who assumed her company’s name employed multiple versions of this gimmick, including having a close family member pass away. A customer who contacted Newman expressed sympathy for the loss of her son.

“I realized that they thought that I was the scam website,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Well, the good news is you haven’t been scammed because I’m sending these products, but the bad news is, you purchased from me thinking you were supporting somebody who’s going through something hard.’”

Check third-party reviews

Murat Kantarcioglu, a computer science professor at Virginia Tech, recommends checking reviews before making any online purchases from smaller businesses. Customer reviews aren’t always legitimate either, but they can be good to check as part of your research.

Sites like the Better Business Bureau and U.K.-based Trustpilot are two places to look, as well as marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy if the brand has a presence there.

“If the small business claims to be there for 30 years, they should have reviews about them, maybe from at least a couple of years back,” Kantarcioglu said.

Look up the domain

Another quick check is looking up where a website was registered. Kantarcioglu recommends doing a domain name search through the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. GoDaddy and Whois are other options.

If a company claims to be in one country but is registered in another one, that is a red flag. If the site was registered in the past few months but is marketed as belonging to an established small business, that’s another.

Trust your gut

No matter how cautious you are, it is still possible to get scammed. If something seems off, it’s better to hold off making a purchase than to make one you might regret, experts say.

“As (AI) gets better, then scammers or people doing dubious business practices are going to have an easier time duping people, because things are gonna look more and more convincing,” Ketron from The University of St. Thomas said. “So every time tricks like these come out or publicity is generated around them, people that engage in these kinds of practices figure out ways of doing it … that becomes more challenging” to detect.