How to make learning as addictive as social media | Luis von Ahn (re-release)
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 11.9K Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
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Summary
When technologist Luis von Ahn was building the popular language-learning platform Duolingo, he faced a big problem: Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok? He explains how Duolingo harnesses the psychological techniques of social media and mobile games to get you excited to learn — all while spreading access to education across the world.
This episode originally aired on October 26, 2023.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. |
| 0:12.1 | I'm your host, Elise Hu. I have been using Duolingo to learn Korean, and I definitely could say at times I've been really hooked. |
| 0:20.0 | Like many of us feel, I don't want to lose my streaks. |
| 0:22.8 | So how did the app make language learning fun? |
| 0:26.0 | In this archive talk, educational equity technologist Luis von Anne |
| 0:30.5 | shares how duolingo's developers harness the psychological techniques |
| 0:34.4 | employed in social media and gaming apps |
| 0:36.7 | to make the app compete with addictive platforms. |
| 0:40.6 | And in doing so, how they've been able to spread access to language education across the world. |
| 0:46.9 | Stick around after his talk for a brief Q&A between Luis and Ted's head of media and curation, Helen Walters. |
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