Designing a Social, Ethical Approach to Digital Wellbeing.
Drop is a digital wellbeing startup founded by two dads who were increasingly frustrated by how often screens pulled their attention away from their families. Built for people who want to be more present in their daily lives, Drop believes reducing screen time works best when it is social, intentional, and motivating rather than restrictive or punitive.
The Challenge
Drop entered a market crowded with screen time trackers, parental controls, and restrictive blockers that focus on punishment instead of behavior change. Many existing tools rely on fear, guilt, or hard limits, which often lead users to disengage or abandon the product altogether. The founders were clear they did not want to build another app that tells people what not to do. They wanted to create something that made reducing screen time feel achievable, supportive, and even enjoyable.
At the same time, Drop faced a paradox at the core of its business. It is a mobile app designed to help people use their phones less. Traditional growth tactics such as infinite feeds, streak pressure, and dopamine-driven rewards were incompatible with the product’s mission. Yet the business still needed a way to drive engagement, retention, and monetization without introducing addictive mechanics that would undermine trust and long-term impact.
This tension between ethical product design and sustainable growth is what ultimately brought Drop to Goji Labs. The founders needed a partner who could help them define a clear product strategy, validate what would actually motivate users, and design an experience that aligned incentives for users, the business, and future partners. The challenge was not simply building features, but designing a system that encouraged meaningful behavior change while remaining commercially viable.
Our Process
We began with deep research across two adjacent spaces: screen time reduction tools and challenge-based social apps. We analyzed how existing products approached motivation, accountability, group dynamics, and rewards, while carefully documenting where they leaned too heavily on addictive mechanics. This helped us identify proven patterns worth adapting and, just as importantly, behaviors to avoid given Drop’s mission.
In parallel, we conducted user interviews with people actively trying to reduce their screen time, including parents, professionals, and socially motivated users. These conversations revealed that sustained behavior change rarely happens in isolation. Motivation increases when goals are shared, progress is visible, and success feels meaningful rather than absolute. Users also expressed fatigue with apps that demand constant attention or punish failure, reinforcing the need for flexibility and encouragement.
Using these insights, we mapped the app’s information architecture and core logic with a focus on clarity and restraint. We designed challenge creation flows, group invitations, leaderboards, and progress dashboards that surface just enough information to motivate users without pulling them into prolonged sessions. A lightweight design system reinforced calm, trust, and intentional use. Every decision was filtered through one guiding question: does this help the user spend less time on their phone while still feeling supported?
The Impact
This engagement helped Drop evolve from a strong personal vision into a clearly articulated product strategy grounded in real user needs and ethical design principles. Together, we defined a product foundation that supports meaningful behavior change while enabling sustainable business growth, ensuring future decisions can scale without compromising the core promise of digital wellbeing.
By aligning the product around challenge participation as the primary driver of engagement, Drop gained a clear path to motivating users through social accountability rather than restriction. The work established a shared North Star metric, validated monetization paths that feel optional and trust-building, and created a durable framework for future feature development that stays true to the mission.
- Defined a clear product-market fit strategy grounded in ethical design and user motivation
- Validated social challenges as the primary engagement and retention mechanism
- Established a North Star metric aligned with reduced screen time, not app addiction
- Created a scalable foundation for monetization without compromising user trust
Project Review
Drop Founders
“Goji Labs helped us turn a personal frustration into a thoughtful product strategy. They challenged us to design something that genuinely supports healthier behavior without falling into the traps of traditional app engagement.”
