I will say, with Duolingo I do appreciate the manipulation to keep me going. I probably wouldn't have spent near as much time on another language if it weren't for keeping that streak going. I can definitely understand the harm in it being used for maligne purposes. With any tool, it's who wields it and for what intent.

My duolingo streak addiction made me fucking miserable, but I just couldn't stop. I knew that breaking it would plunge me into a horrible depressive state. I finally broke free after finishing the diamond league and make peace with "good enough". I haven't been able to use duolingo ever since, because there's apparently no way of just using duolingo normally without gamification.

The only difference is that Reddit's doesn't work. You can skip days it will resume counting just fine. It is just a counter of how many days you interacted with the site, for now.

I’m switching over to Babbel when my duo subscription lapses in the fall, much less gamified, actual human speakers for the language I want to learn, and they aren’t trying to shovel AI into everything like duo is

Check out mango. Its pleasant and has a really nice interface.

You can use your library card for free premium access.

My library district actually just got access to Mango in May, I downloaded it, but I haven’t had a chance to try it

Thanks!

As I always say about duolingo, if you have not completed the course in 3 months you won't learn a language with it. Duolingo is a good introduction when you don't know anything about a language, but you need a lot of advanced materials they they don't really have to become fluent.

Though if your goal is just to play a game and feel like you are learning something - well at least you get some vocabulary. It won't teach you a language but that need not be your goal.

As a single tool, no, not a chance in hell of becoming fluent. It's definitely a good aide and introduction to branch out into more media and sources of another language though.

Man that headline was so hard for me to read for some reason

"Streaks" is a string but it would be easier for us to read if it was "streak"

Gamification.

Employers use it in lieu of paying living wages.
Business employ the practice with rewards cards.

Humans physiologically crave competition and the sweet dopamine of accomplishment.

I uninstalled Duolingo the day they started offering to restore your streak for money.

I hated this when battlefield did this with daily missions to unlock things. Like, fml, I just want to enjoy a complete game. Trinkets and skins mean nothing to me.

I feel shame when I go to reddit because I hate seeing "Yaaaay!!!! 10 day streak!!! You are addicted woooohooooo!!!!"

Sucks that you have to create a login to search if your library is included. I don't care enough to create a login for something I might not use

I just dropped my 600 streak in duolingo because it just made me feel like clicking through a chore instead of putting genuine effort into learning a language. I'm looking into some alternatives now

I got hooked once. But its apple watch activity ring, at least my health is improved since then.