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In early 2026, the Canadian government officially began introducing measures to limit access to social media platforms for young people. My first thoughts after hearing about the proposed restrictions were centred on my teenage grandchildren, who, like most kids their age, would happily spend hours on their devices if given the chance. But my thoughts soon turned to my own habits, and I quickly became conscious of just how much time I was wasting doom scrolling on Facebook whenever I had a spare few minutes.
Although I make an effort to keep my Facebook feed curated and focused on my interests including local events, gardening, genealogy, canning, food preservation, and technology news, those pesky reels are just so enticing. Opening Facebook for a quick peek while waiting for the mixer to knead my dough for five minutes can quickly spiral into watching 30 mindless reels about the antics of cats.
How I Tried to Quit Facebook
At first I tried removing Facebook from the home screen of my phone so I had to search for it in the app drawer. However, I quickly realized that I was accessing it so often, that it stayed permanently in the top row of the five most recently accessed apps. Next I tried using Facebook’s built-in time management tools. I initially set it for one hour a day and was dismayed to find out that I often hit the limit.
Next I tried substitutes when I found myself heading for the Facebook app. I tried scrolling through my Google news feed and reading the newspaper. But after reading the articles that interested me, I found myself wasting time reading my horoscope or scrolling through advice columns instead.
Then I accidentally watched a TED Talk by Luis von Ahn, who, along with Severin Hacker, created Duolingo. They quite literally designed the app to be as addictive as social media—but with the benefit of learning something instead of mindlessly scrolling. Towards the end of the talk, I paused the video and downloaded Duolingo.
Why Duolingo Scratches the Same Itch
Learning another language on Duolingo only requires a short time investment per day. The app is colourful and the friendly, bright green spectacled owl named Duo is kind of fun. The key to making that short daily investment pay off is the repetition. You are rewarded for completing a session every day by maintaining your streak. I have two friends who use Duolingo, and both have been using it every day for more than two years. I would imagine there are days when they don’t feel like completing the lesson but get through it anyway because who would want to see their 730-day streak drop back to zero?
The Streak Effect
I already know that maintaining a streak works well to motivate me.
In my health app, I have both a daily food log and weigh-in streak going. I’ve completed my food log for 687 consecutive days. And I’ve logged my weekly weigh-ins for 585 days.
My smartwatch tracks my sleep every night and gives me a score. This motivates me to give myself some wind-down time every night, get to bed on time, and to make sure I have my heavy meal earlier in the day, normally between noon and 3pm. That ensures I get a full night’s sleep and feel rested in the morning.
Other ways to leverage the streak effect include:
- reading one chapter before bed
- hitting your daily step goal
- tracking your water intake
- sticking to a weekly budgeting routine
- writing for ten minutes every day
First Impressions of Duolingo
When I signed up for Duolingo, I chose to take a refresher in the French language. Although I studied French in school for six years, that was a very, very long time ago. When my kids were young and living at home, I would sometimes speak French to them to keep up my skills. After they moved out, I tried various other methods such as reading books in French or watching French media but I found myself avoiding both since they seemed like such hard work when those were typically activities I chose when I was more interested in relaxing.
After taking Duolingo’s placement quiz to understand my starting abilities, I started my Doulingo journey just above the beginner level. I found the initial lesson difficult at first but the long-dormant neural pathways soon started firing and towards the end of the lesson, I was feeling more confident.
Final Thoughts
I’m not planning to give up Facebook entirely. It still has plenty of value for me. It’s one of the easiest ways to keep up with local events, stay connected with family and friends, and follow groups related to gardening, genealogy, food preservation, and other hobbies I enjoy. My goal isn’t to eliminate Facebook from my life—it’s to be more intentional about when and why I open it.
Will Duolingo’s daily learning habit help to replace Facebook doom scrolling?
I guess only time will tell. But even if I don’t become fluent in French, ten minutes spent learning something new beats an hour of mindless scrolling every single time.
