Duolingo
Article
Duolingo is a recurring brand in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between May 14, 2021 and June 27, 2025. The archive places it in contexts such as “more languages with Duolingo”; “Foreign Language (mostly on duolingo)“. It most often appears alongside India, Khan Academy, YouTube.
Metadata
- Category: Brands
- Mention count: 2
- Issue count: 2
- First seen: May 14, 2021
- Last seen: June 27, 2025
Appears In
Related Pages
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- India (2 shared issues)
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- Khan Academy (2 shared issues)
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- YouTube (2 shared issues)
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- 10,000 hour rule (1 shared issues)
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- 2 Hour Learning, Inc (1 shared issues)
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- 2-hour Learning (1 shared issues)
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- Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas (1 shared issues)
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- Alex Amplifier (1 shared issues)
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- Alpha (1 shared issues)
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- Alpha Portal (1 shared issues)
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- Alpha Portal (1 shared issues)
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- Alpha Reads (1 shared issues)
External Links
Source Context
Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.
You might remember the gamification craze from the beginning of this decade. App creators were convinced that adding badges, randomness, and leveling up to any activity would make it irresistible. We were promised a new world where the power of gaming would be used for good. We would all chase after more steps with our Fitbits, more languages with Duolingo, and more math with Khan Academy. Move aside Portal and poker, there were new sheriffs in town.
And yet, despite following a lot of the same strategies that gambling machine designers did, those app creators never did create an army of self-improvement addicts. I haven’t heard any tales of someone losing his job because he was too busy getting more steps with his Fitbit, neglecting her marriage because she was too busy learning a new language on Duolingo, or dropping out of school to make more time for Khan Academy. Why is that? If designers can turn creaky slot machines into a multibillion dollar addictive product, why couldn’t they do the same for all these virtuous apps? Why can I, a person who gets addicted to apps fairly easily, not bring myself to spend more than ten minutes on Duolingo? Why are these apps still more broccoli than chocolate?
Foreign Language (mostly on duolingo)