Lori Schott
Mother of Annalee Schott and a public advocate for online child safety. She testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2024.
For invited contributors
Participating inThe Lost Childhood
The film
A documentary about screen dependency and what it is doing to a generation of children, the broader shift from a lived childhood to a synthetic one.
It follows one family, and in parallel a school that has removed screens entirely, where children learn through books, nature and each other.
The second half is about what children get back. The film refuses both easy endings: the outrage that blames the platforms and moves on, and the despair that leaves parents feeling there is nothing to be done.
Annalee Schott grew up on a farm in eastern Colorado: horses, dogs, open land. She died in November 2020, at eighteen. Afterward her mother, Lori, found the phone and the journals, and a private digital life the family had not known.
A mother’s account can be dismissed as one family’s misfortune. The expert interviews are what turn it into evidence: what happened to Annalee follows a documented pattern, and the design behind it affects children everywhere.
Taking part
What participation looks like
- A recorded sit-down, typically 60–90 minutes on camera.
- A small crew: usually director, camera and sound.
- Filming in New York State, or we travel to you.
- Filming in September or October.
- Questions are shared in advance.
Who is making it
Tobias Elvhage, director
Close to twenty years in film and television, and three award-winning documentaries for U.S. audiences. One of them was a feature documentary made with a mother who lost her daughter, working closely with the family throughout. That film received nine awards, including Best POV Documentary at the Manhattan Film Festival.
Read more about the companyWhere it will be seen
Commissioned by NTD Television
The film is commissioned and fully financed by NTD Television, an independent U.S. news and cultural network, founded in 2001 and headquartered in New York, with a strong tradition of original documentary programming. Its 24/7 English channel reaches audiences nationwide across satellite, cable, over-the-air and streaming, and internationally. NTD+ is the on-demand home, on Roku, Apple TV, iOS and Android.
Delivery is scheduled for December 1, 2026. Alongside the broadcast and streaming release, the film will be submitted to film festivals.
More about NTD ››19 bureausand more than 200 journalists worldwide
9 languagesof original programming
50M+ followerson YouTube, X and Facebook
NTD is a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.
Already confirmed
Who is in the film
Dr. Michael Fitzgerald
PhD in Education. Co-principal of Northern Academy and principal of Northern Schoolhouse, a screen-free school built on classical literature, nature and the arts. He speaks for what education looks like without screens.
Thomas Kersting, LPC
Family therapist and author on the effects of screen use on children and adolescents. He speaks from clinical practice about attention, anxiety and family life.
Tian Yi
A young man who found his way back from severe screen dependency, to his family and to life on the farm where he lives.
Professor Martin Hilbert
Professor at the University of California, Davis, where he studies algorithms in complex social systems. He speaks for the evidence on how a feed learns a user and decides what comes next.
In discussion
The mechanism
A clinician or researcher on compulsive use: what it does to a young brain, and why it is so hard to stop.
Adolescence and self-image
A clinician on identity, comparison and self-image in adolescence.
The insider
Someone who was inside a platform when the internal research was done, and can say what was known.
Interview not yet filmed.
Next step
Interview dates are being set now
If you are open to taking part, please write to us and we will work around your schedule. If you would like to know more before deciding, we are glad to have a short call first.
Tobias Elvhage, director
tobias@risingphoenixfilm.com845-281-3847Rising Phoenix Films