i've been thinking about how to integrate "Streaks" into timespent for a while now.
tbh i think Streaks are kind of a scam. they fixate on one arbitrary number that doesn't honestly represent your actual progress.
for example, suppose you spend 364 days on a new skill. but on day 365 you need to take a break because you're busy, tired, because life happens, whatever. in this case, your Streak resets to ZERO.
this doesn't make any sense!
does taking a break (which can be healthy btw) reset all your progress to zero? no. does it erase all the hard work you put into literally every other day of the year? no. so why does it feel like every app out there pushes this number so aggressively?
i'll tell you why. a long time ago, the Silicon Valley product manager cabal discovered that Streaks are highly effective for user retention and engagement. everyone likes number go up, and more importantly, everyone absolutely dreads seeing number go down, especially to zero.
then, everyone else started mindlessly copying this feature, because everyone loves Streaks, right?
no, not really.
we think we like Streaks, but in reality they just cause a lot of anxiety long-term. i've seen so many users legitimately heart-broken when they "lose" their hard-earned Streak because they took a much-deserved break, because they forgot, or even because of a bug or other circumstance completely outside their control.
somewhere along the way, the technorati realized they could capitalize on user anxiety and monetize Streaks.
oh, did you forget to check-in for the 3,000th day in a row? no worries! give us even more money, and you can "save" your Streak! 🤮
in the end, like too many things in tech, a seemingly harmless and maybe even novel feature became yet another way to extract revenue from users like us.
having said all that, i do recognize that consistency is important; discipline is essential; and Streaks can be one way (of many) to track both. Streaks can be an effective tool for self-improvement, as long as we don't overly fixate on this one metric and lose sight of the bigger picture.
that's why i've integrated Streaks into Arcs.
at its core, an Arc is just a group of Activities, with some optional extras like Streaks. you can choose to use Streaks with a Habit Arc, or explore a more flexible routine with an Unscripted Arc.
if you decide to start a Habit Arc, Streaks are presented as one of many stats to measure your progress, and they're very intentionally de-emphasized in favor of what i think are much better metrics like Days Active (how many days you've logged an Activity) and total Time Spent on Activities.
i'm also actively thinking of ways to make Streaks more forgiving (like being able to choose which days of the week you actually want to count towards a Streak) and focus on what actually matters (like reflecting on how your Arc is going with journal-like features, mood-tracking, and so on).
as with everything in timespent, Arcs are intentionally designed to be flexible to use however you want. i use Unscripted Arcs to group Activities for workout routines like "Leg Day" or "Olympic Lifts".
lmk how you use Arcs!
onwards,