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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.
FalconSensei 4y ago
It's not meaningless. Just not 'every day'. Like, when I have to travel to visit my family, it's like 25h of flights and connections + another 2h road trip, and still need to arrive like 4 hours earlier. I'm def. going to be offline and would miss a streak if it required me to do every day. So I would not even try to increase it anyway, since I know it's impossible not to lose it a couple times every year. Since I know I can go offline for a day or 2 when necessary, I have more motivation to just keep going

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.

FalconSensei 4y ago

It's not meaningless. Just not 'every day'. Like, when I have to travel to visit my family, it's like 25h of flights and connections + another 2h road trip, and still need to arrive like 4 hours earlier. I'm def. going to be offline and would miss a streak if it required me to do every day. So I would not even try to increase it anyway, since I know it's impossible not to lose it a couple times every year. Since I know I can go offline for a day or 2 when necessary, I have more motivation to just keep going