Not quitting DuoLingo after all
Feb. 28th, 2026 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebSo, right after I dropped out of the family plan of DuoLingo, I was partnered with one of my friends and I helped her make our weekly goal.
During this period, I found the ads weren't as bad as I remembered. (Nowhere near as bad as on my favorite videogame.) And also, they added a new "explain my answer" feature which occasionally will actually make a useful generalization. Teaching!
I still won't use DuoLingo quite like I used to. There's no infinite energy; I can do only about 3 lessons at a time I won't ever do the golden reviews I used to like anymore because they take way more energy. I can still usually accomplish the goals they set up for me and there sure are still a lot of lessons for me and plenty for me to learn.
So, I'm just done paying them cash, I'm not done learning from them. So much subjunctive! And more vocabulary. And more practice listening.
In other online news, I recently quit my favorite videogame. (When I tell people this in person, everyone asks me what that game is. I just want to say, "Don't do it!" But it's SimCity BuildIt.) That game has sucked me in way too many hours for too many years. I said a long, satisfying goodbye to my fellow "mayors," giving verbal tours of the various neighborhoods I had been building all this time. And I sold off all my inventory to them at a discount. It was like having a nice retirement party where people compliment you and then you leave.
It was also perfect timing. They just nerfed all the "services," which is requiring everyone to re-do a bunch of stuff, which is very time-consuming and unsatisfying. (Some things like fire stations protect a smaller area, so you have to build a lot more of them, getting rid of some other stuff you like more. Other things like wastewater treatment, for which I often had double the capacity I needed just to make sure I never had to deal with it, suddenly was not enough even for me. I didn't check all the utilities in all my locations but after the update, I found I was covering no more than 80% of what I needed and it one case, only 15%!)
Plus my device started crashing all the time. Last time this happened I ended up buying a new device. Not this time. I was in no danger of going back anyway, but it was nice to be accidentally also be making a statement to them about this update!
I'm still playing another videogame that doesn't take so much time. (Gardenscapes.) But I won't be starting any more. I'll watch other people play if they seem kind of fun, but that's it.
I'll only do "games" that are really about something else. A friend of mine is periodically using Habitica, which can help you with things you want to be habits. I've already written about Focus Friend. And DuoLingo. These things won't suck me in. (If I get too old to do anything fun but can still play videogames, I'll reconsider.)
So I have ideas on what I want to do with my new spare time. But what am I actually doing? So far, I am recovering from a cold. Yay?
During this period, I found the ads weren't as bad as I remembered. (Nowhere near as bad as on my favorite videogame.) And also, they added a new "explain my answer" feature which occasionally will actually make a useful generalization. Teaching!
I still won't use DuoLingo quite like I used to. There's no infinite energy; I can do only about 3 lessons at a time I won't ever do the golden reviews I used to like anymore because they take way more energy. I can still usually accomplish the goals they set up for me and there sure are still a lot of lessons for me and plenty for me to learn.
So, I'm just done paying them cash, I'm not done learning from them. So much subjunctive! And more vocabulary. And more practice listening.
In other online news, I recently quit my favorite videogame. (When I tell people this in person, everyone asks me what that game is. I just want to say, "Don't do it!" But it's SimCity BuildIt.) That game has sucked me in way too many hours for too many years. I said a long, satisfying goodbye to my fellow "mayors," giving verbal tours of the various neighborhoods I had been building all this time. And I sold off all my inventory to them at a discount. It was like having a nice retirement party where people compliment you and then you leave.
It was also perfect timing. They just nerfed all the "services," which is requiring everyone to re-do a bunch of stuff, which is very time-consuming and unsatisfying. (Some things like fire stations protect a smaller area, so you have to build a lot more of them, getting rid of some other stuff you like more. Other things like wastewater treatment, for which I often had double the capacity I needed just to make sure I never had to deal with it, suddenly was not enough even for me. I didn't check all the utilities in all my locations but after the update, I found I was covering no more than 80% of what I needed and it one case, only 15%!)
Plus my device started crashing all the time. Last time this happened I ended up buying a new device. Not this time. I was in no danger of going back anyway, but it was nice to be accidentally also be making a statement to them about this update!
I'm still playing another videogame that doesn't take so much time. (Gardenscapes.) But I won't be starting any more. I'll watch other people play if they seem kind of fun, but that's it.
I'll only do "games" that are really about something else. A friend of mine is periodically using Habitica, which can help you with things you want to be habits. I've already written about Focus Friend. And DuoLingo. These things won't suck me in. (If I get too old to do anything fun but can still play videogames, I'll reconsider.)
So I have ideas on what I want to do with my new spare time. But what am I actually doing? So far, I am recovering from a cold. Yay?