OEN NewsBreaking Social Media Addiction with “Capitalism for Good”
Each year, we hear more and more about the detriments social media can cause: negative mental health impacts, the spread of misinformation and even sleep issues. Yet, these networks are so ingrained in our day-to-day lives as forms of connection, entertainment and business, that it feels impossible to disconnect.
Corey Scholibo and his team at dayo believe the solution lies in presence – and presents.
dayo is an incentive-based app that rewards users for spending less time on social media. If users can stick to the American Psychological Association’s recommended limit of 30 minutes or less per day on social media, they’ll earn $5. Every minute over 30 spent on social apps dwindles that daily $5, encouraging folks to stick to the limit. Accumulated funds can then be used to purchase products from brands partnering with dayo to offer significant discounts on their products. It’s a simple approach, Scholibo says.
“To motivate changed behavior, you need an alternative,” he explains. “We have to reward people to change, not just yell at them about the negative effects they’re already experiencing.”
That focus on positivity and motivating alternatives has been a theme of Scholibo’s career. “My goal has always been to start companies that have missions and affect culture,” he says. “Companies play a role in shaping trends.”
Studying sociology and film in college showed Scholibo the potential brands have to drive culture and sparked a desire to see that power used for good. His career has spanned consumer marketing and advocacy, including LGBTQIA+ rights and environmental protection. Scholibo co-founded Repurpose, a leader in compostable, single use tableware products, as well as Wile, a holistic wellness line for women over 40. After Wile was acquired in 2024, Scholibo began considering his next move.
“I started to realize how impactful the “attention economy” is, how it dictates spending, opinions, and mental health,” he explains. “My friend and eventual dayo business partner, Patrick Triato, was interested in this space, too.”
Scholibo and Triato began brainstorming ways to get people to voluntary spend less time on social, inspired by brand reward programs for things like airlines and grocery stores. They eventually landed on the idea of an app that essentially pays users to use social media less, using cash and rewards to generate a dopamine response for a better alternative. The duo financed the initial development themselves, leveraging their experience as previous founders.
In a survey to inform the initial development, Scholibo says 68% of respondents used the word “addiction” to describe their social media usage. “Social media platforms are designed to be used a lot, not a little,” Scholibo says. “People don’t have control over their scrolling, and we wanted to create something that helps them moderate their use.”
Leaning into their “capitalism for good” approach, the dayo team recruited brands interested in contributing to more positive social media use. Scholibo describes the idea as similar to carbon credits brands use to offset their environmental impact; participating in dayo’s app gives brands a way to create a “social offset score.”
Dayo’s initial MVP version is now available in app stores, and the company is on a several month sprint to fundraise and launch what Scholibo calls the “MVP plus” version of the app. Dayo was recently named a winner of the Beaverton Startup Challenge. Scholibo expects several changes from version one of the app, and is excited about the evolution ahead for dayo. He says dayo’s future ties right into his career building companies with positive social impact.
“We want to change the way people think about attention and its value in the world,” he says. “If dayo can help both people and brands feel like they’re winning the game while making a positive change, then we can shift the culture of social media.”
Produced by A.wordsmith for OEN
