I think what you're missing here is that some people do not have the discipline to stick to a daily exercise regimen except when it's gamified like this.
So I think for them it's great, they do learn something instead of nothing at all.
So I think for them it's great, they do learn something instead of nothing at all.
It sounds like you're the one missing the whole point.
The goal of learning a language is not grinding on an app, but to have progress. Duolingo's gamification pushes grinding behavior, and not actual progress. Duolingo does not reinforce pushing forward, but does prompt you repeatedly on how to say "I drink milk" regardless whether you're on the app for two weeks or two years. You can be on Duolingo for two years grinding stuff daily and still have nothing to show for. You are prompted to keep your streak up of answering things like "I eat bread" over and over again regardless of language, and if you fail to keep your steak up you're prompted to pay for something to artificially keep it up.
This is not educational. It's a waste of time.
You missed the whole point: people do not learn with this approach, regardless of speed.
The only benefit is keeping people engaged in a skinner box while watching ads, and selling them ways around keeping their track record engaged with said skinner box unbroken.
I did tried other apps here and there, but none of them stuck for more them two days. Overwhelming majority, like almost all of what I learned is from Duolingo.
The progress was actually very real, painless and fine. I did not expected to be fluent. I improved more then would be possible without it.
I get that, but I'm talking about a more extreme behavior. There exist people who appear to be in it for *only* the game. My eyes were opened when I saw someone on Reddit bragging about the length of their streak, but they'd done fewer lessons over 2 years than I had done in a month or so. And I'm not exactly speed running. In other words, they're going out of their way to *not* do any Dueling in the name of earning fake gold stars.
That said, I also agree that what you say is a thing. However I don't understand those people. Why anyone would care about earning a badge on a site is beyond me. If it works to get them to do something useful, great. But I still don't understand those people.
Obviously, for anyone who can learn faster, it's a lot of energy and time wasted, I agree.