New shopping app ‘Dayo’ rewards users for limiting social media
Consumers who worry they spend too much time on social media have a new reason to limit their use.
Dayo Technologies Inc. is introducing Dayo, a mobile application designed to incentivize users to reduce their social media consumption. By limiting social media use to 30 minutes per day, Dayo users can earn financial rewards redeemable for special pricing on products from participating brand partners.
The app partners with more than 100 retailers and brands, including The North Face, Patagonia, and Yeti, to provide a user price of up to 40% off on selected products. Earned rewards of up to $5 per day accumulate in the user’s Dayo app wallet and can be applied toward purchases within the app’s marketplace.
If a user exceeds 30 minutes of social media time on any given day, they will not earn a reward for that day. However, they can still start fresh the following day and continue earning rewards for their app wallet by staying within social media limits.
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"We are witnessing the first generation raised entirely on social media, and the consequences are devastating," said Corey Scholibo, Dayo founder and CEO. "These platforms weren't designed to connect us—they were designed to extract maximum profit from our attention, regardless of the societal cost. At Dayo, we’re aiming to reduce that trend by rewarding folks for staying offline."
The Dayo app monitors social media usage in the background without tracking what users post, watch or interact with, and notifies users at various intervals to encourage limited engagement. Dayo is free for consumers and no subscriptions, fees or in-app purchases are required to earn rewards.
Dayo also provides visual reminders and usage tracking tools. The app based its 30-minute daily social media limit on data from the American Psychological Association which suggests that limiting social media use to 30 minutes per day can have neutral to positive effects on mental health.
“Dayo’s model aligns incentives with positive behavioral change,” said Patrick Triato, COO and Co-founder of Dayo. “Rather than maximizing engagement, our success is measured by the amount of time users reclaim from social media.”
Currently, Dayo tracks usage of major social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Snapchat. The company says it may monitor usage of more social media networks in the future and is accepting applications from companies that want to participate in its marketplace.
Dayo Technologies Inc. is based in Portland, Ore. The Dayo app is now available for download on iOS.
