Let’s make learning as addictive as social media

Duolingo creator, Luis von Ahn is on a mission to make learning as addictive as social media.

Luis grew up as a poor kid in Guatemala (not to be confused with Guantanamo, he joked in a recent TED Talk). His mother threw all of her resources into ensuring that Luis got a great education.

This led to him receiving a PhD in computer science. Well done, mom! 👊

Luis decided to pay back his good fortune by creating something that would give equal access to education to every global citizen.

To start, he discovered that there’s one specific skill that provides people around the world with an immediate opportunity to increase their income, no matter their education level in other fields — learning English.

Thus, Duolingo was born.

The big problem

Luis knew that the concept of building a learning app was the best way to make education accessible, but he faced one big problem:

Why?

Because the learning app would be competing for users' attention with platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

So Luis needed to come up with a way to make the broccoli taste like dessert.

Duolingo’s social media tactics

To make the broccoli more appealing, Duolingo adapted the same psychological techniques social media apps use, with the two most powerful being: 

1. Steaks

2. Notifications

Here’s how he applied them to Duolingo. 👇

🏃 Streaks

A streak is a very simple concept. It’s a counter that measures how many consecutive days a learner has been on Duolingo.

It’s a massive psychological motivator. If a learner misses a day, the number resets to zero. 😧

And it really works.

Duolingo has over 3 million active learners who have a streak that is over 365 days.

Wow.

Do you think your kid could commit to studying every day for a year? Duolingo proves that it’s possible.

🗣️ Notifications

The other tactic Luis borrowed from social media is notifications.

That little green owl will pester you to jump back into your lessons.

Luis notes that unlike social media notifications, Duolingo’s users really do appreciate the reminders.

And don’t worry, if you ignore the reminders, he’ll send that little green owl to your house to force you to study. 👇

The future of education

Luis hopes that the success of Duolingo will encourage others to adopt these strategies for teaching all subjects.

Imagine if your kid could get excited about a study streak in math, or science, or history?

Right now, there are more Americans learning a language on Duolingo than there are kids learning a language across all US high schools — combined.

Screen time doesn’t have to be a bad thing. 🤷