I previously wrote about gaminification. While revising the drafts, I noticed that I spent a lot of time talking about Duolingo. So I decided to write just about the app with the cute, manipulated owl. So let's get to the main point:
Duolingo is an addiction inducing mobile game with a language learning theme. It is a game calibrated to induce addiction, chasing after the high engagement metrics that the tech industry has sought out for the last 15 years.
It is perhaps one of the most polished, carefully calibrated addictions Skinner boxes ever made. That long start up time? Fake. It is meant to build up anticipation so that you will get a release of dopamine when the app finally starts. The animation even shows Duo struggling, like he is working so hard to load on your phone. Our empathetic brains feel happiness when the green owls achieves it. The constant chimes? Also designed to microdose dopamine. The leagues are intended to use your game competitiveness to spend more time on the app, trying to outdo the other person who is competiting for more XP. XP? Yes, they give you a score, a score that makes no sense because at the end of the lesson you never know how many points you will get. Guess what that does? Yes! More dopamine release!
Nothing is ever enough for Duo. You do one lesson that takes between 2 and 5 minutes. You get gems because you have reached your daily goals! You never set them? You were never asked to set them? Nevermind that. The next day, to reach your daily goals will take you 5 to 7 minutes. The day after that, 7 to 10. And so on. There is no sustainable level. There is no way to set a sustainable level for yourself. The goal post keeps getting further and further away the more successful you are.
If you are into education you will identify this trick as strech goal, the elusive sweet spot of learning. For true learning to happen, we need to struggle. We need to struggle some, but not too much because failure is demoralizing. Finding this stretch zone for students or even for oneself is hard. This is whywe are encouraged to hire teachers and tutors if one wants to improve in any skill. An experience teacher can calibrate that stretch goal correctly for each student.
Is Duo setting these stretch goals? Not really. It looks like it is a stretch goal, but if we pay attention, it only stretches the time we are spending on the app. The actual lessons are boring because you are repeating the same sentences with the same small vocabulary, over and over, and over again. So it is an illusion of a stretch goal, not a real one. Currently, there is no software that can accurately identify your stretch zone. This has to be done by an engaged, experienced teacher. So what looks as a stretch goal is really a trick to increase app use, app engagement.
The lessons are boring and slow because Duo needs to simulate learning success to give you your dopamine. Recall that a task that is too difficult for a student will make them give up. The goal of Duolingo is to create Duolingo addicts, so if Duo must err on making things too easy or hard, it picks making things too easy. The lessons slow down and ultimately are boring, yet the users will get successes. At least the feeling of success.
Not that Duo won't exploit your failures. It will, as long as they are soft failures. It won't let you fail that hard in lessons. But it will punish you for not using the app. Don't use it for a few days, and you lose your streak. You get angry emails from Duo asking you why you are not using the app. Why have you dropped him. Why aren't you responding to their calls. Come back. Please. I demand you! Come on, babe, we were so happy together. Give me another chance. Ah, that is better! Aren't you happy to translate "el perro come una manzana" for the 200th time?
At this point one would believe that I am a Duo hater who will cast my puritanical condemnation to all of those who use the green oweled app. That is not the case. I use the app every day. It is a fun game. It lets me bond with my family. Duo reminds me to do real language learning. Let me repeat that.
The best use of Duolingo is to remind you to do real studying that day.
So do your Duolingo lesson for 2 minutes. Now go to a desk, open a textbook, and study for 10 or 15 minutes. Review vocabulary with physical flashcards or by using Anki, a real educational app meant to help you review and remember vocabulary using spaced repetition.
Ignore the tricks. You went down to a lower league. Aw, too bad. You lost your streak. What a pity. You are paired with a good friend for the friend's challenge. DM them and apologize, saying how you are too busy to do it. Or just let them learn this all by themselves when they see that you barely do anything. Use Duolingo; don't let it use you.