I got hooked once. But its apple watch activity ring, at least my health is improved since then.
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
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.
Streak addiction is real, I had one Snapchat streak years ago that was over 1500, the person it was with and I would send one snap a day of nothing really just to keep the streak going. It got to the point that the one snap was the only time I communicated with that person, and it was honestly a relief when the streak finally lapsed. I had a few times where I was camping with no signal and would literally go on hikes with no destination just to find phone signal to send my daily snap to them.
Number go up makes monkey brain happy, even when you’re aware of how dumb it is.
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.
Idle games like cookie clicker exploit this to a shocking degree.
Ironically, cookie clicker is actually a parody of idle games, and once you get far enough, there is genuine strategy (assuming you enjoy doing math).
Still doesn’t change the fact the objective is to make number go up
Every gamer should try cookie clicker once as it really does expose how many games work under the hood. If you play cookie clicker, you’ll notice those number-go-up mechanics everywhere and that really gives you another perspective on some modern grindfests. It also is a really good game
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.
We’re not going to make it, are we? People I mean.
Corporations just want you to keep using their shit. But for someone who has ADHD and is autistic, streaks and gamification can help me a lot to make something a habit.
None of these ever worked on me. I see Reddit started doing it too btw.
Same. In fact, streaks tend to anger me because it feels like manipulation to me, which disincentivizes me from doing anything streak-related. I’m not rushing out to the supermarket just bc my points are about to expire, and I’m sure af not paying a subscription kits so they don’t expire.
