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I love that Duo streak is hard to lose, unlike other apps where if you miss a day streak is gone. The goal of app is to help you keep learning. In life things a

by jammu 4y ago

I love that Duo streak is hard to lose, unlike other apps where if you miss a day streak is gone. The goal of app is to help you keep learning. In life things are bound to happen because of which you might miss couple of days or more, it make no sense to penalize you for that. I have been trying to maintain streak in other apps but I when I miss a day, I am not motivated enough to go back and start again. Also, streak is only one gamification point in Duo, it's ok if it isn't perfect. Leagues, stories, medals provide enough motivation to keep making progress. I have tried to learn french multiple times and nothing made me stick to my learning routine like Duo has. It might not teach the language to hold a conversation, but I like how much progress I have made reading front.

bombcar 4y ago
Dailies are great for getting you to come back, but losing a streak can be enough to make you reconsider your life and never come back; especially when you were doing it out of habit and not really "into" it anymore. Cf: World of Warcraft
- jammu 4y ago
  That makes sense, I think that's more of a reason for not enforcing the streak so strictly. Giving levay days helps you not obsessed over it. Also, for a user who lost his streak and is devastated over it, I do think Duo support helps them restore it. I do think they realize it's just a number and there is not need to traumatized people over losing it.
  - kamaal 4y ago
    On the other hand, may be it should not be things like obsession at all? Many important things in life like fitness, diet etc are very repetitive and hence boring to some extent. There are times when you just to have to get through the grind even if you are not interested or you are aligned with it. The point being don't just depend on the initial euphoria of things to do a thing that's good. If something is good on the longer, at some point it does get a little boring, and that's ok, just keep doing it. There are things that I stopped doing because I was bored and a few months later I had like a moment of epiphany- It wouldn't have hurt me if I had stuck to this, quitting has cost me more. May be one should think beyond doing things for immediate emotional relief.
    - jammu 4y ago
      It much harder to stick to routine without any short term rewards. Human brain priortizes short term rewards. Logically it makes sense to me that good habits will give fruitful results over long term (like learn french everyday over two years) but in short term i need something to keep me motivated (like streak)
jeremyjh 4y ago
But how does the streak motivate you if you know that it is meaningless - and not even really a streak?
- jammu 4y ago
  Duo streak isn't meaningless, it's just easier to maintain. You get levay of couple of days using streak freezes. Life is hard as it is, I don't think users should be penalized for missing a couple of days. If it means more people can maintain their streak I think that good. I don't think learning should be a competition and if more ppl can make progress that's good. It does devalue your streak number if you consider it in relation to other people streaks, but why compare. If I am making progress and easier streak helps me do that I am happy.
- jonahx 4y ago
  You can abuse it the point of meaningless, but I'd guess most people don't. If you are committed to practicing every day, it's a motivator, and the streak freezes are nothing more than a bit of leniency for cases where something unforeseen happened. I have a long streak and have only occasionally used them. The streak actually represents sustained, long-term effort.
- glhaynes 4y ago
  Because it's still a motivating number that has rules around it (even if they're loosely-enforced), which my monkey brain finds appealing to make go up. If I knew it was _completely_ meaningless—say, if I knew it were impossible to ever lose—I think it'd lose its appeal, so it's a fine line they have to walk.
- AlecSchueler 4y ago
  In a way it's a streak that's more meaningful for you, because you know yourself and what you can and can't do, and you know what innocent things (dinner with friends, meetings at work) might be fair enough for you to skip a day for, and that way you can control it and not let it control you. There's also the fact that your lower brain systems don't care that you "know that is is meaningless" -- they still see that number getting bigger and give you that dopamine hit, which is what will really keep you coming back for more.
zamadatix 4y ago
Yeah I remember starting a couple week streak in an app and then I had a long day with a work due to some issues and it reset my streak to 1 day since even though I did it before the end of my day it was technically the morning of the next day. It may have been technically "correct" but not having leniencies made me realize the streak was going to inevitably keep getting broken which made it lose all value to me.

by jammu 4y ago

bombcar 4y ago

Dailies are great for getting you to come back, but losing a streak can be enough to make you reconsider your life and never come back; especially when you were doing it out of habit and not really "into" it anymore. Cf: World of Warcraft

jammu 4y ago
That makes sense, I think that's more of a reason for not enforcing the streak so strictly. Giving levay days helps you not obsessed over it. Also, for a user who lost his streak and is devastated over it, I do think Duo support helps them restore it. I do think they realize it's just a number and there is not need to traumatized people over losing it.
- kamaal 4y ago
  On the other hand, may be it should not be things like obsession at all? Many important things in life like fitness, diet etc are very repetitive and hence boring to some extent. There are times when you just to have to get through the grind even if you are not interested or you are aligned with it. The point being don't just depend on the initial euphoria of things to do a thing that's good. If something is good on the longer, at some point it does get a little boring, and that's ok, just keep doing it. There are things that I stopped doing because I was bored and a few months later I had like a moment of epiphany- It wouldn't have hurt me if I had stuck to this, quitting has cost me more. May be one should think beyond doing things for immediate emotional relief.
  - jammu 4y ago
    It much harder to stick to routine without any short term rewards. Human brain priortizes short term rewards. Logically it makes sense to me that good habits will give fruitful results over long term (like learn french everyday over two years) but in short term i need something to keep me motivated (like streak)

jeremyjh 4y ago

But how does the streak motivate you if you know that it is meaningless - and not even really a streak?

jammu 4y ago
Duo streak isn't meaningless, it's just easier to maintain. You get levay of couple of days using streak freezes. Life is hard as it is, I don't think users should be penalized for missing a couple of days. If it means more people can maintain their streak I think that good. I don't think learning should be a competition and if more ppl can make progress that's good. It does devalue your streak number if you consider it in relation to other people streaks, but why compare. If I am making progress and easier streak helps me do that I am happy.
jonahx 4y ago
You can abuse it the point of meaningless, but I'd guess most people don't. If you are committed to practicing every day, it's a motivator, and the streak freezes are nothing more than a bit of leniency for cases where something unforeseen happened. I have a long streak and have only occasionally used them. The streak actually represents sustained, long-term effort.
glhaynes 4y ago
Because it's still a motivating number that has rules around it (even if they're loosely-enforced), which my monkey brain finds appealing to make go up. If I knew it was _completely_ meaningless—say, if I knew it were impossible to ever lose—I think it'd lose its appeal, so it's a fine line they have to walk.
AlecSchueler 4y ago
In a way it's a streak that's more meaningful for you, because you know yourself and what you can and can't do, and you know what innocent things (dinner with friends, meetings at work) might be fair enough for you to skip a day for, and that way you can control it and not let it control you. There's also the fact that your lower brain systems don't care that you "know that is is meaningless" -- they still see that number getting bigger and give you that dopamine hit, which is what will really keep you coming back for more.

zamadatix 4y ago

Yeah I remember starting a couple week streak in an app and then I had a long day with a work due to some issues and it reset my streak to 1 day since even though I did it before the end of my day it was technically the morning of the next day. It may have been technically "correct" but not having leniencies made me realize the streak was going to inevitably keep getting broken which made it lose all value to me.