Nick Rotola challenges conventional social media design with a clear goal: developing platforms that support young people’s mental health. As the founder of UP, a platform specifically designed for ages 10-24, Nick is building a carefully vetted space emphasizing psychological well-being over user metrics.

From Manhattan Showcase to Worldwide Platform

Nick’s path to transforming social media started on New York’s Fifth Avenue with Web3 Gallery in 2022. 

“We set up a creator economy gallery right by Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada,” Nick explains. “We allowed creators to post content to 300 screens that were on the wall, and they could post it from anywhere in the world in real-time.”

This six-month initiative demonstrated a crucial point: large-scale content moderation worked effectively. Using AI systems, they successfully filtered inappropriate material while maintaining user interest. 

“We never had any issues. We were able to cut out obviously pornography, profanity, sexism, racism, even nuance material,” Nick notes. “I started to really learn a lot about the creator space and filtering, curating content so it could be viewable by 7-year-olds and 80-year-old billionaires. And I started really getting obsessed with the idea of an app that could do this with the whole world’s social content.”

Addressing Youth Mental Health

Statistics about youth mental health drive UP’s mission. “The average teenage girl scrolls social media for 5.2 hours a day—teen boys 4.8,” Nick shares. More critically, “Every eight minutes, a 10 to 24-year-old commits suicide because of social media,

For Nick, a father of two young children with another expected, these statistics demand action. He’s observed how current platforms prioritize engagement over user well-being. 

“Meta has 6,000 institutional investors… These guys are not okay with them saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to cut our top-line revenue by 60% to make the app healthier,'” he explains.

“When I was a teenager, especially when I was early adolescent, like 10 to 14, I had to ask my mom before I watched a movie,” Nick reflects. “And so content was very guarded by the parents. And if you watch the mental health decline in the world, it all started really in 2015 with the front-facing camera. And one of the things people don’t realize is when you’re watching content, your phone is watching you.”

Three Key Principles for Content Management

UP differentiates itself through specific approaches:

Selective Creator Participation: “We’re the first social media to be exclusive for creators,” Nick explains. “Yes, it’s hard to get into UP, and we have a rigorous process, and we’re saying no to a lot of people, a lot of famous people, and that’s fine.” 

The platform maintains strict standards: “Our stress test is: Is this someone who could pick up your daughter and take her to lunch? Is this someone who would be a role model? Because that’s what they are—role models.”

Wellbeing-Focused Algorithm: Instead of maximizing engagement, UP’s system prioritizes positive user experiences. “We’re going to rank content that makes people smile, makes people happy, and lowers their anxiety,” Nick says. “What we noticed immediately was that it is not the act of consuming content that’s good or bad for your brain; it’s the type of content.”

Parent Integration: “We’re age-verifying. We’re pairing 12 and under accounts with the parent or guardian,” Nick states. “You cannot sign up for UP without your parent or guardian being involved. The parent or guardian will be able to moderate screen time and toggle things like language sensitivity.” This is a crucial differentiator in a time when 40% of children 12 and under illegally signed Instagram’s Terms as a 13-year-old without their parent’s consent.

Research-Based Content Analysis

UP bases its decisions on scientific research, conducting detailed brain studies with university partners to understand the effects of content on users, especially young people.

“We scanned my brain two weeks ago… We noticed immediately when I was watching the sensational content that other social apps feed me that for the entire duration, my brain was stressed and anxious in the panic part of my brain, the back right part of my brain, which for 31-year-old males like myself that is a primal part of the brain for panic,” Nick reveals. 

“Like when I see a bear or when a thief comes into my house, or someone tries to abduct my kids,” he adds. “That’s when that part of my brain is supposed to be highly triggered, stressed, and fired up. Not passive viewing social content. These are cheap tricks to increase profits at the expense of the user’s mental health.”

The study follows strict protocols. “We called my alma mater, which is Oral Roberts University in Tulsa… and we submitted about 100 pages worth of documents saying how we’re going to structure it, how we’re going to do consent, what we’re going to do, what kind of content we’re going to show, how we’re going to test, how are we going to analyze it,” Nick explains.

The research team includes significant expertise: “We have three in-house neuroscientists, a clinical psychologist, and one of the world’s leading facial emotion recognition experts,” he shares. 

More studies are planned: “We’re going to scan 200 to 300 more a little bit later this year at a university we got approval for. We’ll be doing two to 300 tests of early and older adolescents, so 10 to 24-year-olds, in partnership with the university.”

This research matters particularly for young brain development. Nick gives an example: “The Wall Street Journal did a test where they set up ten random 13-year-old girl accounts on TikTok. They found that each account was shown more than 10,000 weight loss videos in their first two weeks. Neurons that fire together at 13 wire together. So literally, her brain will be hardwired that her body is not good enough from when she’s 13 to when she’s 83… That’s why protecting a middle and high schooler is more important than protecting a 26-year-old with a fully formed prefrontal cortex.”

UP plans to share these findings publicly. “Very soon, we’ll be able to put two brains on our website, the healthy brain and the unhealthy brain, and we can say you choose what you want,” Nick states.

Improving User Experience

UP introduces features like “vibes”—customizable content feeds based on user preferences that users can toggle throughout the day. “If you want chill vibes, energized content, personal growth content, or just laugh, you can toggle between these vibes and many more, ” Nick explains. 

“So let’s say in the morning you want to be energized and you want personal growth, but maybe in the evening you want just to chill and laugh and be entertained or sports, you’ll be able toggle in real time between different algorithms,” he adds.

The platform includes designated offline periods. “Our app will be off on Sundays. It’s going to say, ‘Go spend time with people you love, with your family, with friends,’” says Nick. 

“I know we’re going to lose money doing that. But creators need a break, and users need a break,” Nick adds. “And you know what? We don’t even like to call them users. We like to call them people. We only say users with drug addicts and social media people.”

Moving Forward

UP has attracted significant expertise. “We have 24 people working on it every week right now. These are some incredible people,” Nick shares. “We have some of the most dense talent of any company at our stage. And the reason is because parents just get it immediately.” 

“It’s like, ‘Okay, you’re building a safe version of social media for youth. Wow, okay, I’m in,’” he reveals.

Nick emphasizes his core mission: “We used to protect kids. We used to protect 10-to-24-year-olds before their frontal cortex is formed… I believe it will be illegal to manipulate them in these ways before they can fully understand and have self-control to stop it.”

“Someone’s got to build an app for them,” Nick concludes, noting that a billion people attempted to break away from traditional social media algorithms last year. 

“We’re not launching until we have millions on our waitlist because we need her friends to be on it, too. It’s not good enough to just have your daughter,” he states. “We need to go big. That’s why we have so many big people rallying behind this mission.”