Welcome To Dayo

Yo! Thank you for being a friend!

What if we could put consumers back at the center of the experience? What if technology could be a win-win? It sounds ridiculous, but I really believe it doesn’t have to be the way that is is.

So we built an app. The idea was to see if people would use less social media if we paid them to. Then we worked backwards to figure out how to make that work. After years and a lot of research and testing, we have something we are ready and proud to show the world.

META, X, and TikTok they sell you, your attention. And it feels like its free, and maybe even adding value, but in the aggregate, the way that we are using it, the way that it is heading, it is extractive. It costs us, a lot.

We didn’t design an app to nag you about social injustice, though we may have gotten your attention this way. It isn’t up to us if you use the time you get back to meditate, play with your dog, or just take a nap. We can’t offer absolution, and we can’t offer peace. We can get your time back though, get you paid back, and in the meantime, help you take back your eyes, ears and thumbs from a system we didn’t design.

I am not against social media entirely. I don’t think that is realistic and I think that Dayo is the epitome of realism. But moreover, I don’t believe it is 100% bad. As an LGBT founder, I can only imagine what spaces I could have sought refuge in when I was young if I had that technology. But also, here’s the thing; it’s fun. When it’s just enough, when it’s not too much, it can still be fun. But it’s a hard line to walk.

When I was 6 my mother begged me to stop sucking my thumb. She tried everything. Finally, she offered me $20 bucks (this was the 80s). I did it in one week.

Now if this all sounds painfully capitalistic, I hear you. But this is about behavior reinforcement, and people reinforce their own good behavior with rewards. We don’t always recognize the rewards we chose. The coffee, the martini, the extra roomy seat in coach. But we do this all day.

A recent study showed that meth addicts, !METH ADDICTS!, offered $30 a week for clean urine, were clean at two times the rate of therapy alone.

Financial rewards, a little money, when it’s just enough, works. We came up with five dollars a day, because the average user uses 2.5 hours a day and that math worked. Then we gave users 30 minutes free, no penalty, because The American Psychological Association states that 30 minutes a day is net neutral to net positive.

You are supposed to see my dog, I am supposed to see your kid’s birthday party, we feel connected, and then we are supposed to get off. But we stay and we scroll. We see the better house, the better car, the better body, the better spiritual practice (the algorithm knows no boundary), whatever will keep your attention just a second longer.

And they sell it. They sell every second of it. Meta makes over three hundred million dollars a day selling your “attention.” And what does it even matter, what even is attention, why should it have a value? Well, I think it does.

I for one cannot focus as much I used to be able to, read as much as I used to be able to, converse as well or as much as I used to be able to. My hands hurt from using my phone. I pay people to help me fix it, massage therapists, chiropractors.

We built this app for us, because we’re addicted too. And we built it for you if you need help, need a little motivation, or just want to look forward to something. You try your best, you get rewards, you have a bad day, you get back on tomorrow. Cause we can’t make it any harder and cold turkey hasn’t worked for me. What if it could be easier. What if there was help. I am hopeful we can use technology to help us defend against technology. I am hopeful.

As thank you for joining us we are sending you one of our original, one of a kind, digital wallpapers to help remind you to stay on your goals. Desiged by our Co-Founder Patrick Triato we hope this is another opportunity to help you Get Paid. Not Sold.

DON’T FORGET: Invite your friends: Both of you get $10 in your wallet when they complete set up. Also it helps us acheive our mission. We thank you. 🙏