The new Airbnb

Congratulations, you made it to Thursday, which is in fact an accomplishment. It can be hard to step away from your phone period, let alone give your tired thumb a break from doomscrolling when troubling news looms.

That’s why the chatter around Zario today is giving us hope. The new app uses psychology-backed concepts to help you understand your screen addiction and overcome it. Co-founder Ondrej Zak shared his experience, and it’s resonating with many in the community.

“I reached my lowest when my boss approached me one day after a meeting. She told me to never turn on Tinder during meetings again. 😅 The scary thing was that I wasn't even aware of having used it…"

Zak turned to the book Indistractable by Nir Eyal. “I started exploring how my brain 🧠 was unconsciously programmed to reach for the phone every time I felt the slightest discomfort,” he continued.

Then came Zario. It works to help you find digital balances with “science-backed challenges” on your phone. Examples include things like turning your phone to black & white to make it less appealing and making an origami. The challenges aren’t meant to transform your life instantly, but help you find short-term relief that adjusts your behavior over time (“sooner than later my brain found a workaround.”)

One commenter, Sarah Jordi, added “⬆️ this part is really spot on… deleting or time-restricting TikTok is only symptom control and not addressing the issue at its root…”

Co-founder Killian Fjellbakk also chimed in to explain to one commenter how the team approaches the app's challenges, explaining "Novelty and scarcity is often a trigger that draws us to picking up our phones more often; fomo. We've been relying on extensive testing… Finding the right balance is definitely key.”

Now is a great time to join the conversation and give Zario feedback about its MVP.

• Got 5 minutes? We’d love to know: How do you think we’re doing?
• RonRon = “purr” in French. We're biased but we can’t think of a more relaxing way to meditate than with high-quality audio and a haptic experience that simulates a cat purring on you.
• mysc. helps you create, collect, organize miscellaneous things in daily life like your shower thoughts, moods, wines you loved, etc.
• Twitter only stores your Spaces chats for 30 days, but FlowInSpaces will let you archive them into a playlist for free.

Some people were left disappointed by Airbnb’s big launch following a lot of hype.

Nonetheless, The new Airbnb does includes interesting new features, including Categories, Split Stays, and AirCover Guests. Co-founder Brian Chesky tweeted that the launch is “the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade.”