Interrupting the scroll: This founder is using social media as ground zero for a digital reset

TechCrunch: Ukrainian Founder Pivots from Building Communities to Tackling Digital Addiction with “Human”

In a world where “doomscrolling” and “social media addiction” have become part of everyday vocabulary, one Ukrainian founder is taking a stand against our unhealthy relationship with technology.

Valeriia Chobotok, a self-described “superconnector” who has been at the heart of Ukraine’s startup ecosystem, is now building something radically different: an ecosystem called Human that aims to help people become more intentional about their digital habits.

“I’m sure the creators of the internet never thought of a time when phrases like doomscrolling, social media addiction, and bed rot would be mainstream,” Chobotok reflects. “But here we are. If you’ve ever jolted yourself awake by dropping your phone on your face at 1am, or instinctively reached for it in a room full of strangers just to avoid discomfort, you’ve felt it too — that quiet, compulsive pull.”

From cookie companies to startup epicenters

Chobotok’s journey into entrepreneurship began long before she understood what it meant. “Honestly, I think it started when I was a baby,” she says. “I always wanted to become a businesswoman. I had big dreams about creating something of my own and running something myself.”

Her parents, who held day jobs but maintained an entrepreneurial drive, served as early role models. “I grew up seeing them try different things. That stayed with me.”

By 2020, Chobotok found herself drawn into Ukraine’s burgeoning startup scene almost by accident. While volunteering at America House, she stumbled upon a startup incubator happening in the same building. “During a break, I just started talking to people. I was 19. That was my first real networking session.”

This chance encounter led to her first startup role supporting a New Jersey-based cookie company with customer service. Later that year, she joined the NGO Anti-Corruption Headquarters as a communications manager, followed by a position at Unit City in Kyiv as an events & community manager at NEST Hub.

“It was like the Mecca of startups,” she recalls. “That’s where I really immersed myself. I saw companies grow from exhibition stage to scale.” Among them was adtech company Zeely, whose trajectory she witnessed from the beginning.

The 0.1% club

In 2022, Chobotok’s entrepreneurial ambitions took a significant leap forward when she was accepted into the EWOR ideation Fellowship — a program so competitive that out of more than 35,000 applicants each year, only 35 entrepreneurs (0.1 percent) are accepted.

“It was insanely competitive to get in. I still don’t know how I was selected,” she admits. “At first, I had major imposter syndrome. But then I realised — there’s a reason they chose me. I belong here.”

Beyond the credentials, the fellowship provided something even more valuable: community. “Through that community, I met some of my closest friends,” she says.

The superconnector in action

Chobotok has a natural talent for bringing people together. When I visited Ukraine last year for TechChill Kyiv, I witnessed her remarkable ability to organize and connect firsthand. She tirelessly managed logistics, corralled journalists (not an easy task — we’re as difficult to herd as cats), connected us with incredible social activities, and even ensured we were safely in our hotel bomb shelter when air raids sounded in the middle of the night.

“My strength has always been connecting people,” she explains. “People naturally came to me asking who they should meet, where they should go, especially across Europe. But I saw friction. People aren’t always in the same place. You don’t always know who’s open to meeting, hosting, or showing someone around.”

In June 2023, after living in Spain for a while, Chobotok considered moving back to Ukraine. “I realised I felt disconnected from the Ukrainian ecosystem,” she recalls. “I was watching a documentary about Gorillas, the German delivery startup, and suddenly thought: what if we could visualise our connections?”

She opened Google Maps and manually plotted her network. “I wanted to see if it worked.”

When she moved back to Ukraine in October 2023, a profound realization hit her: “I had this very clear feeling: any moment I can die. That realisation changed everything. I didn’t want to delay my dreams anymore. I started taking small steps. Friends joined me. We built svoi.”

svoi hosted offline gatherings in Madrid, San Francisco, Kyiv, Lisbon, and Paris. More than 300 people formed deep friendships through the community, and some even started relationships. “Some even started relationships,” Chobotok recalls. “We raised some funding through the ReactorX acceleration program, went to San Francisco, and met incredible people.”

Choosing purpose over profit

Eventually, svoi evolved into a community focused on helping people feel they’re not alone, wherever they are. But over time, Chobotok made the difficult decision to walk away from monetizing the community.

“Happiness depends so much on personal relationships,” she explains, citing Harvard research on the subject. “I didn’t want to charge for connection or make it transactional. That felt wrong. So I stepped back and asked: what do I really want to bring into the world?”

The birth of Human

The idea for Human emerged when Chobotok intentionally went off Instagram for three months in 2025. “It was the best decision for my mental health,” she says. “I started observing my parents’ behaviour with their phones. My four-year-old nephew’s generation. My own anxiety when waiting for something and instinctively reaching for my phone. I realised this isn’t just Gen Z. It’s a humanity-level problem.”

Chobotok argues that while social media was built to connect us, we’ve become disconnected from others and from ourselves. “With AI agents becoming more powerful, we risk outsourcing our small daily decisions — our memory, our values, our beliefs. But those are the things that make us human. So I’m building an ecosystem called Human.”

Creating space for consciousness

Human focuses on behavioral change — helping people become intentional and conscious about their digital habits and build a healthy relationship with technology. It starts with a Chrome extension designed to interrupt automatic social media use with a brief, reflective AI conversation.

When you try to open a platform like Instagram, instead of loading immediately, you’re met with a calm pause screen. You can then open the Mindful popup and have a short exchange with an AI that asks why you want to go there, reflects your reasoning back to you, and gently challenges impulsive motives like boredom or restlessness.

Instead of brute-force blocking apps or other means, Chobotok’s approach uses cognitive techniques grounded in evidence-based behavioral science. “For example, if you say you’re opening YouTube for 20 minutes of yoga, it helps you stay aligned with that intention. If you end up scrolling instead, it highlights that gap between intention and behavior.”

But it’s not just about screen time. “It’s about mindfulness. Coaching. Self-awareness. It’s uncomfortable work.”

She’s currently building an MVP — a Chrome extension with AI interaction and a “ghost mode” that helps track your stated intentions versus actual behavior. She’s also creating social challenges around consciousness — encouraging people to track time offline, time outdoors, and real-life experiences.

“Because what actually matters isn’t showcasing how cool your life looks. It’s living it.”

And recognizing that we’ll all have more time when we’re not on social media as much, Chobotok is also experimenting with a digital “town board” — a private-first board of local events and meetups, like the announcement boards we had as kids. “That connects back to svoi, which we’re using as a trusted test community,” she explained.

Building through adversity

Chobotok admits that closing svoi as a business was one of the hardest moments in her life. “At the same time, there’s war at home. You don’t know if your family is safe. You’re questioning everything — what you want to do, who you are. I’m 24. People say I’m at the beginning of my life. But I don’t want to waste a second of it.”

“So you just do it. No matter how little you slept. No matter how many explosions you heard that night. You connect. You build. You ship. The world has to see you.”

“As Ukrainians, we don’t give up. We pivot. We test again. We keep going.”

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