# We 'want to encourage other people in our generation to be the types of people who do not even want to have an AI friend': Appstinence founder on the fight to help people step back from tech and recon

> Gabriela Nguyen is both like many in her generation and also unlike any Gen Z I've met before. She grew up in Silicon Valley and had access to social media via her trusty iPod Touch when she was just 10.

- **Source:** [TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/computing/social-media/we-want-to-encourage-other-people-in-our-generation-to-be-the-types-of-people-who-do-not-even-want-to-have-an-ai-friend-appstinence-founder-on-the-fight-to-help-people-step-back-from-tech-and-reconnect-with-real-life?utm_source=gearopen.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=feed&utm_content=697aab1674c8273d83d0b1c7)
- **Published:** 2026-01-29
- **Category:** Computers & IT
- **Tags:** #smartphones #people #generation #appstinence #encourage #fight #founder #friend
- **Canonical:** http://localhost:4321/a/697aab1674c8273d83d0b1c7

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_GearOpen's distilled summary. The full original article is published at TechRadar (source link above); GearOpen does not republish the source's full text._