How To Make Learning As Addictive As Social Media

Education in poor counties like Sudan, Afghanistan and many more often creates inequality, as wealthier people can afford a good education, while poorer people struggle to learn basic skills like reading and writing. I was lucky, though, because even though I didn’t grow up wealthy, I pushed myself to the limits and worked harder as I ever could, allowing me to come to the U.S. for college and later earn a PhD in computer science.

About 10 years ago, some people were deciding on how to work on making education accessible to everyone, including myself. At the time, I was a professor at Carnegie Mellon, and I started thinking with my PhD student, Gerrard, about how we could achieve this. We initially considered teaching subjects like math or computer science but eventually decided on foreign languages, especially English. Why? Because about two billion people worldwide are learning a foreign language, and most of them are learning English, which can dramatically increase one’s earning potential. Learning English can be life-changing—unlike math, you don’t need a degree to earn more money by learning a language. A waiter who learns English can get a better-paying job in a hotel.

There was a need to make education accessible to everyone, and the need to reach people through smartphones, as building schools worldwide would be too expensive. Most people already have access to smartphones, and that number is growing. So, Duolingo was created, a platform where people can learn languages for free. The app operates on a "freemium" model, meaning it’s free to use but includes ads unless you subscribe to remove them. The majority of Duolingo's revenue comes from subscriptions, mostly paid by people in wealthier countries, which helps subsidize the service for people in poorer countries. This creates a form of wealth redistribution, where rich users essentially fund education for all.

However, delivering education through smartphones presents a challenge: smartphones also come with highly addictive apps like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. To make learning engaging, there was a need to make it as appealing as those apps. They used techniques from mobile games and social media, like streaks (consecutive days of usage), to keep people coming back every day. In fact, over three million Duolingo users have had streaks lasting over a year. Another interesting feature was the use of notifications to encourage users to return, and even added some passive-aggressive notifications when people stop using the app for a while, which surprisingly brings them back.

Despite these efforts, I don’t think it’s realistic to make educational apps as addictive as social media. But the key is that learning something meaningful gives you a sense of achievement, unlike endless scrolling through social media, which often feels like a waste of time. That’s why it’s okay if educational apps aren’t as engaging as TikTok or Instagram—they can still motivate people to use them because the content itself has intrinsic value. In fact, more people are learning languages on Duolingo in the U.S. than in all the U.S. high schools combined. I hope these methods can be applied to other subjects like math and science, turning repetition-based learning into something fun and engaging for millions of users.

For subjects that require repetition, like math and reading, it’s possible to gamify the learning process. Learning through repetition can be made engaging in the same way Duolingo does. However, more complex topics that need explanations, like advanced concepts, might require video-based teaching, like what Sal Khan does with Khan Academy. But for subjects based on repetition, the same approach can be used to make learning fun and effective.

The ultimate goal is to use smartphones to provide quality education to everyone, regardless of wealth. My final plea to you: please do your language lessons today!

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