Someday / we will learn how to live.
Because I had a migraine and because I was busy, I didn't spend any time in the Kindle app reading any of the various books I'm working my way through. That meant that when I did open the app I was greeted with a large zero where my previous "consecutive days read" had been.
It was not the first time I have been irked both by the reliance of tech companies on gamifying our every interaction in the service of ~engagement~ and it is not the first time my initial and immediate reaction has been to rue the loss of my streak.
I was reminded of Dan Hon's characterization of "streaks considered harmful" back in 2020:
There are rumors that the next Apple Watch (the Series 6) will include “anxiety monitoring”. If you know me, then you’ll know that this rumor has itself made me anxious, and I’m simultaneously optimistic about the opportunity for devices to humanely and compassionately help with mental illness and also terrified about that help coming from a device wherein the Ring copy includes calls to action about CRUSHING IT THE NEXT DAY. Not least of which my belief that Apple Watch’s fitness ring mechanic and streaks can be actively harmful to mental health.
Speaking of streaks, I don’t think I’ve written about this yet, but I heard at this year’s IXDA that Duolingo’s best-selling and most profitable in-app purchase is the one that allows you to have a break and resume a streak...
More on that subject in another one of Dan's recent newsletters, including the key insight: "what you want is consistency, and not a streak."
I always have streaks on the brain, because I am always using technology (including an Apple Watch, with which I have a fractious relationship and which I ocassionally swap out for a purely analog, no-notifications, just-the-time experience).
And because I write and publish and send this newsletter, and have done every week for years and years. Very occasionally I am asked why I write this, and among the answers I could offer perhaps the trust is that it enforces consistency. There's value in showing up, even and especially when no tech company gives you a gold star or a closed ring for it.
Attribution
Someday
we will learn how to live. All of us
surviving without violence
never stop dreaming how to cure it.
What changes?
— from What Changes? by Naomi Shihab Nye