The hidden dangers of measuring your days in streaks

It's time to ask yourself: are you really keeping that streak, or is it keeping you?

It’s almost impossible to escape digital nudges. Notifications flash from apps, wearables vibrate, platforms send us reminders. Some of these nudges are helpful, but I think others deserve a bit more scrutiny.

Today, I want to talk about one in particular: streaks.

The logic of streaks is simple: Do something every day, and you earn a reward. A badge, a flame, a number climbing ever higher. It’s a symbol of consistency and, for some of us, a promise kept.

Except, at some point, the promise changes. What started as a commitment to growth – like learning a language, meditating, exercising – transformed into something else.

Somewhere along the way, the act lost its meaning. It became maintenance. An obligation to the streak itself.

So the question I can’t stop mulling over is whether the resulting feeling is one of motivation, or compulsion?

Now, there isn’t an easy answer to that, but I believe it’s worth asking the question more often. Because streaks are everywhere.

Snapchat turned them into social currency. Games dangle rewards for daily logins. Fitness apps use them to keep us moving. Language apps give us prizes for our completed lessons. Wearables even turn our sleep patterns into a game.

And it makes sense. There’s something so very satisfying about an unbroken chain. Proof that no matter what’s happening around us, we have that streak. It’s a thread of continuity. It’s proof of sustained effort.

But what happens when the streak breaks?

Sometimes, when it snaps, it reveals its true nature. It wasn’t a tool. It was more of a trap.

At this point, we all know our apps and devices are designed to hold our attention – sometimes gently, subtly, other times with a vice-like grip.

In my book, Screen Time, I argued that we’re not addicted to technology in the clinical sense. But some days, it sure feels that way, right?

Streaks are just one of many psychological levers built into our tech to keep us hooked. I’m not going to bombard you with research today, but just a few things that spring to mind are…

They prey on the sunk cost fallacy – so, the more time we invest, the harder it is to walk away. Each day added makes stopping feel like a loss.

The endowment effect. We irrationally protect what we “own,” even when what we own is just a digital counter ticking upward.

Intermittent reinforcement. The same principle that keeps gamblers at slot machines and pigeons pecking at levers. Rewards come unexpectedly – a surprise badge! an unexpected power boost! – just enough to keep us coming back, just uncertain enough to make sure we don’t stop.

And perhaps the most insidious effect? I think streaks warp how we experience time.

A ritual, repeated over and over, threads itself into the fabric of our days. So, instead of seeing time as fluid, expansive, unfolding, we begin to see it as a tally. Our actions because this fragile chain that we need to protect. Our seconds amounting to a score we need to maintain.

And when that chain breaks? It can feel like a huge personal failure.

So, am I saying that streaks always bad? No, not necessarily. But it’s complicated.

I believe much depends on personality. And, we know the power of habits, the satisfaction of progress, the magic of seeing a bar inch forward and the momentum that can sometimes give us.

And let’s not forget, before streaks lived in our apps, they lived in our heads. We marked days on calendars. We tallied gym sessions. We built rituals.

But maybe the difference was ownership and, therefore, control?

A running streak meant something because we defined its value. A writing streak mattered because we set the rules. Now, it’s apps and games that dictate the terms. They grant us streaks and just as easily take them away if we don’t stick to their schedule.

So, I’m not saying streaks are useless. They can drive real change.

But like anything habitual, anything mechanical, they’re worth holding up to the light – honestly, bravely, compassionately – to see if they’re still working for us.

Because streaks aren’t always about making you better. Sometimes, they exist to make sure you never leave.