- App’s launch coincides with broader discussions about social media’s influence on mental health and regulatory scrutiny of tech industry practices
- Dayo offers users a transparent way to track and manage their social media usage while receiving tangible benefits.
- Platform partners with over 100 brands, including JBL, Rumpl, Ruff, and Yeti, to provide a user price of up to 40% off on selected products.
- The earned rewards accumulate in the user’s Dayo app wallet and can be applied toward purchases within the app’s marketplace.
Dayo Technologies, in what can only be described as a stroke of either genius or profound corporate irony, unveiled “Dayo,” a mobile application designed to bribe users into spending less time luxuriating in the digital dopamine drip that is social media.
The concept, audacious in its simplicity, proposes to reward individuals for limiting their daily exposure to curated envy, political outrage, and algorithmically amplified cat videos.
In exchange for a paltry 30 minutes of allocated screen time, users will be showered with… discounts.
Yes, discounts. The platform partners with over 100 brands, including JBL, Rumpl, Ruff, and Yeti, to provide a user price of up to 40 per cent off on selected products.
On goods from the likes of JBL (presumably so they can listen to more enriching content, like audiobooks on mindfulness), Rumpl (for swaddling oneself in a blanket of tranquility after an exhausting day of not arguing with strangers online), Ruff (for pampered pooches who, let’s be honest, are probably better adjusted than most social media addicts), and Yeti (because what better way to celebrate reduced digital consumption than with an overpriced cooler?).
According to Dayo’s CEO, Corey Scholibo, the very platforms built to addict us are now the enemy. One almost suspects Scholibo is planning a reverse coup, building his own meta-platform of digital abstinence.
Reshaping digital landscape
He laments the societal cost of unchecked online engagement, conveniently overlooking the probable societal cost of everyone suddenly having perfectly insulated beverages thanks to their time management prowess.
Dayo, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a digital wellness company focused on promoting balanced technology use. Founded by Corey Scholibo and Patrick Triato, the company is supported by industry veterans from Meta, Nike, and Uber who are committed to reshaping the digital landscape by prioritising user well-being.
Dayo’s COO, Patrick Triato, declares that their success will be measured not by engagement, but by reclaimed time.
“One imagines Dayo’s internal metrics dashboard flashing with triumphant glee as users across the globe trade digital validation for marginally cheaper outdoor gear.”
Digital detox
The initiative, launching amidst a growing epidemic of digital dependency, arrives like a particularly earnest superhero. Armed not with superpowers, but with coupon codes.
The company, apparently basking in the reflected glory of prior Oregonian entrepreneurial accolades, promises future updates, including peer-to-peer rewards —a feature ripe for potential gamification of digital detox.
One can envision elaborate schemes where users bribe each other with virtual badges to spend even less time online, ultimately creating a competitive market for digital asceticism.
And for those truly committed to severing ties with the digital world, Dayo hints at a debit card. Presumably, this card will allow users to spend their accumulated rewards on… more things that will inevitably end up being advertised on social media. The circle, it seems, remains unbroken. Download Dayo today. Your wallet, and perhaps your sanity, will thank you. Eventually.
Dayo is now available for download on iOS.