Are You a Pigeon? How Apps Like Duolingo Gamify Your Life

A new book warns that our obsession with scores and rankings is harming us. It argues that "gamification" can twist our real-world goals. Gamification is the use of game elements, like points and leaderboards, in non-game activities. Apps use it to make tasks like learning a language feel fun and rewarding. But the quest for points can become the main goal. One user reported learning Japanese on Duolingo. At first, the points helped track progress. Soon, the user focused only on climbing the weekly leaderboard. They chose lessons for maximum points, not maximum learning. On a holiday, they ignored family to repeat a simple, high-scoring lesson. The book, *The Score* by C Thi Nguyen, calls this a trap. It says gamification can simplify complex human pursuits. We stop enjoying an activity for itself. We just work for the score. This effect is seen beyond apps. Societies often measure success with simple scores, like a country's GDP. The book warns that these narrow metrics can undermine true human flourishing.