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Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

(domenic.me)
625 points domenicd | 5 comments | 18 May 25 11:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.815s | source
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keiferski ◴[18 May 25 12:38 UTC] No.44020946[source]▶
I’ve been using Anki for about a decade now, and as far as I’m concerned, the only real improvements needed are design/UI based. It is functionally irrelevant if the algorithm is optimized or not when the actual user interface seems boring to potential users. While I do like that Anki has power user options, it’s also very unintuitive to the average person just looking into it.

Which is really a shame, as the spacing effect itself is such an underrated aspect of human learning that it almost feels like cheating.

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yellow_lead ◴[18 May 25 12:49 UTC] No.44021017[source]▶
Compared to i.e Duolingo, the app is quite boring. I still have been using it for years. But I sometimes wonder if adding a bit of gamification may help. For instance, streaks, sound effects, etc. Obviously, those should be optional
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1. wccrawford ◴[18 May 25 13:01 UTC] No.44021101[source]▶
I've quit Duolingo because of the gamification. It's far, far too much, and it puts me in the wrong mindset for learning. Instead of concentrating on the knowledge, I'm gaming the system to improve my score the most. There were times I would stop learning because I knew if I saved it for later, I could use a multiplier for a higher score.

And the daily emotion-tugging streak reminders started to actually piss me off.

On top of that, at one point they were changing the icon regularly and made it really ugly. Despite a ton of complaints, they left it that way for a long time.

So I canceled my subscription and I'm done with them. I'll find another way to study that I like (I've already tried Anki and it works, but I don't like it) and isn't mentally abusive.

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2. watwut ◴[18 May 25 13:40 UTC] No.44021361[source]▶
> On top of that, at one point they were changing the icon regularly and made it really ugly. Despite a ton of complaints, they left it that way for a long time.

My kids loved it. I did not cared. So, the likely explanation is that many people like that icon changes or dont mind it.

3. TeMPOraL ◴[18 May 25 13:55 UTC] No.44021443[source]▶
I'm of two minds about it. Duolingo is off-putting for me, not because of gamification as a concept, but rather because of their particular implementation - with tons of clearly user-abusive bullshit with gems and chests and watching ads and shit.

I used to not care for gamification because I knew that my brain is resistant to it in activities that aren't otherwise rewarding on their own. Like, I quickly realize I'm just tricking myself, and then it stops working. But somewhere over the years, I must have burned out of my dopamine reserves or something, because apps like Anki feel now actively off-putting, in the sense that I lose all energy just looking at them. Memorizing cards gets tricky when your eyes just glaze over them and nothing is loaded even to short-term memory, much less long-term. So at this point I'd appreciate even a little bit of immediate feedback and some progress tracker that evokes ever so slightly positive feelings.

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4. djeastm ◴[18 May 25 16:45 UTC] No.44022607[source]▶
>But somewhere over the years, I must have burned out of my dopamine reserves or something, because apps like Anki feel now actively off-putting, in the sense that I lose all energy just looking at them

This resonated with me. I think the decline in excitement towards learning, that we used to do without thinking about it, happens naturally with aging.

Evolution doesn't reward older humans that much for learning so most of us don't feel that same excitement. Compare this to when we're young and need to learn fast, so the dopamine rewards are off the charts.

Consider all of the retirees who spend hours at slot machines (or virtual ones like Candy Crush) to get that dopamine fix as easily as possible.

Maybe a more tasteful gamification balance can be found.

5. 0xDEAFBEAD ◴[18 May 25 17:01 UTC] No.44022716[source]▶
>watching ads

Does it show you ads in the language you're learning? Because if so, that could be an asset...