Tamerlane's Hideout

Why I Quit Duolingo: Breaking Free from a 1550+ Day Streak

I. Introduction

Duolingo is a well known app to learn languages. There are many memes on the internet about how Duo, the app's mascot, will hunt you down and force you to complete today's lesson. I started Duolingo in 6th grade and have kept the streak for over 4 years. However, I have decided to quit. Despite my very impressive streak, Duolingo slowly exposed itself to me as a social media app masked as productivity. Let me explain.

I have recently been on a digital detox (that is, cleaning out my phone of useless apps and other things "minimalist"), and one app was in limbo: Duolingo. See, for apps like Instagram and Discord, I really had no use for them, and I deleted them. For others, like Google Chat, I needed them for my work or school life. But Duolingo was neither as obviously useless as Instagram yet as useful as Google Chat. To keep it, I justified it by simply keeping the streak alive, because it made me feel a bit good to have such a long and unique streak.

II. The Illusion of Progress

It was only for the first couple of months or first year where I truly used Duolingo the way it was intended: log in, complete a very new lesson, and maybe do some more to gain more gems and rise on the leaderboard. However, that was in middle school. As I grew up, I had less and less time to dedicate to Duolingo. So I started to cheat the system. I would log in daily, scroll all the way up to the first and easiest lesson, and finish it in under 2 minutes. All of this was just to keep that streak going. I did not care for the leaderboard or for my friends' achievements. I logged on just for the streak. At some point, I did Duolingo from the website and used a reminder to do it daily. At another, I turned off Duolingo notifications because it would send me notifications about the streak and everything else, which was useless.

Eventually, my streak, not learning, became the goal. I take Latin, and Latin is notorious for being an incredibly difficult language to learn well. Duolingo is frankly abysmal with Latin, making up random phrases and making up new words for cities that didn't even exist in Ancient Rome. In order to learn Latin, it's best to learn the various charts and to practice with real Latin from real Latin texts, like the Aeneid. So I fooled myself into thinking that Duolingo was an educational app, when it really was not educating me at all.

III. The Social Media Comparison

Eventually, I realized this: Duolingo is Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and other social media in disguise, and I had been bitten by the wolf in sheep's clothing. For everything in Duolingo that makes it a "game", there is an obvious analogy to how social media hooks you in. Let's name a few:

This is the same trap as Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc. The users are coming back, not necessarily for their sake, but to keep the company alive. The users end up giving two things: data and ad revenue. Data can be sold, and so can ad space. In addition, having a consistently high amount of monthly active users looks good to investors. All of this is for the money.

IV. The Breaking Point

You can probably realize what I have realized. Duolingo really does not offer much value if you are learning a language. For Latin, I'd much rather use textbooks or try translating real Latin texts. If I wanted to travel to France, in the modern day and age, I don't need to become addicted to Duolingo to speak French fluently. Heck, I wouldn't even need to speak it - why were translating apps invented in the first place? So, I did my last lesson I would ever do in Duolingo: the 1550th one. Then I deleted the app. Just like Instagram, Twitter, and Discord, nothing was actually lost. In general, if something no longer gives you value, it is very okay, encouraged even, to just let it go.

V. The Aftermath

Well, I finally deleted it. Heck, I even went into Apple Reminders and deleted that pesky "Do Duolingo" reminder too. Finally, I'm free. This contributes to my bigger goal: my phone is a tool. It should never ask me to come to it. I should go to it, and only when I need something done on it.

With Duolingo deleted, my phone feels more intentional. Sometimes I would stay up a little more late at night just to complete a lesson. Now I can sleep peacefully at any hour not needing to remember whether I did the lesson or not. I may make more posts in the future on how I am further cleaning up my phone, such as deleting/hiding my music app.

VI. A Word to Others

If you are in my situation, where you have a really long and impressive Duolingo streak, it's okay to be proud! It shows dedication. But ask yourself, is Duolingo that useful? If the answer is no, quit now, rather than later. There really is no benefit to just being one more digit on the company's ad revenue. Don't be bound, especially willingly, to false obligations

VII. Closing Thoughts

Minimalism isn’t just about fewer things — it’s about intentional choices. For me, Duolingo was one chapter. But now, there’s more room for meaningful learning, real silence, and honest work.

Thank you for reading, I hope you have a terrific day ahead of you!