F For a year now, a green owl has stood between my wife and me. When midnight approaches, the quip is often: “Almost forgot! I still have to finish this lesson quickly!” With Duolingo’s green owl my partner is learning Spanish. Nothing would be worse than missing the “streak” if she hasn’t answered the questions from Lilly, Junior or Eddy for a day. Or missing a virtual diamond for diligent learning. The tension only eases when the phone’s fanfare “Ding-ding!” proclaims the end of the lesson.
I have nothing against the silent creeping predators. There is certainly a reason the owl stands for wisdom. And my wife is making real progress in Spanish. She can now even ask whether there is not only a yellow, but also a red skirt. Some addiction has its good sides.
Fascinating, however, is how participatory apps on the phone manage to captivate us with simple tricks: there is praise, reward, coercion, and pressure of time, as if one would never dare with one’s own children. Cute creatures with googly eyes force us through love withdrawal to keep going, along with funny clips with catchy melodies.
Reasonable people become slaves and let fitness apps boss them around. In the past we moved out from home because our mothers compelled us to wake up and learn Spanish. Today we “voluntarily” download a paid app for the same purpose.
Real Life on the Internet
That is, of course, the downfall of the West, but actually also an opportunity: Could we, by chatting, not sometimes save the world? With a professionally manipulative app, could we addict people to climate protection, biodiversity, waste reduction, energy saving, walking, and food rescue?
Then the avatars Carbony and Dioxy could push us to lower the heating or to walk to shop in order to virtually grow a small tree. Transforming a vacation flight into a rail journey and choosing vegan currywurst would bring us laughing sun emojis and virtual pats on the back. But there would also be guilt-tripping: the impulse purchases of fast fashion and a cruise off Zanzibar would pull our score from the heavenly league into the fossil-fuel hell: faces of climate shame on the screen!
Perhaps our app “WorldSaver” would not even need to be effective in real life. It might be enough simply to keep people glued to mobile devices — as long as they run on green energy. Those who tinker with Carbony and Dioxy don’t drive cars, don’t grill meat, and don’t abolish emissions trading.
If, someday, cruises can be enjoyed virtually and the testosterone from the sound of a Formula 1 car is also induced through data glasses and headphones, perhaps we can finally leave the world outside in peace. Nature will thank us, greenhouse gas emissions will fall, the forest will recover, and wolves, bears, and moose will repopulate Germany again, without us noticing. Then even the Duolingo owl won’t seem Spanish to me anymore.
