AIBU to think Duolingo’s “child account” emails are actually a bit creepy?

[Leafle]

DD (10) set up a Duolingo child account without telling me. She put my email in, so I got one message saying “Your child has created an account.” No consent, no verification, nothing. Just an opt‑out link if I didn’t want her to have it.

For the past week I've been receiving messages from Duolingo, clearly aimed at a child, saying things like:

• “I’m not that upset! It’s allergies 😢 You haven’t done a lesson today.”
• “Do a lesson. That’s all I ask. I’ll ask again tomorrow though.”
• “Nobody ignores me… for long.”
• “I’m not above begging 🙏 I’ll do anything to get you to practise.”

These were obviously generated because it was a child account. If DD had used her own email (which she could also easily set up tbf), these guilt‑trippy, begging messages would have gone straight to a 10‑year‑old.

AIBU to think this is a really dodgy way for a huge company to behave?

I stopped using Duo for this very reason - the emails for adults gave me anxiety! That and the Spanish was Latin American and not European.

Sorry, no solution or suggestion. At least they’re coming to you and not your daughter 🙏🏽

The streak reminders for an adult account are pretty similar. I get “it would be a bummer to lose your streak” pretty much every day, which prompts me to quickly do a lesson.

However, how has your 10 year old child managed to download an app and sign up for an account without you noticing what she was doing? Surely you directly supervise her internet access?

Youe 10 year old would be upset by a cartoon owl encouraging her to study?
Ok
How did she download an app without you knowing?

I guess you should click the opt out link?

It is 100 per cent creepy and inappropriate

Its called addictive by design.

There were obviously generated because it was a child account

No, those are the messages you get on an adult account as well.
I’d agree they should be turned off for children’s accounts though. And I agree they’re weird. But they aren’t child specific

ETA - but my child has an account and must use my email address because she doesn’t have one (I set it up so I assume I used my email address). I’ve never had an email reminder, so I guess I turned them off in settings. I also have my own account and don’t get emails on that one either. I do get notifications pop up on my phone with the same messages. DD uses a family iPad for Duolingo which she doesn’t know the code for, and notifications are turned off on that as well.

I get exactly the same messages as an adult user to prompt me to practise. To be fair they work and I do practise pretty much every day.
Rather than blaming the app, maybe have a think about how appropriate it is for your ten year old to have unsupervised internet access to the point where she’s been able to get this far.

They are the same for children and adults, and the reason I stopped using Duolingo.

It's the same for adults and children. Duolingo are kind of famous for their playful motivational style, which some users find annoying and others just laugh at. An adult can read things like "I'm not mad, just disappointed" as a joke, but a younger child or an anxious person might take it more literally.

I was confused by the "dead owl" when it showed up on my phone and thought it was a bit lame when I found out what was behind it, but someone with a tendency to perfectionism/guilt might be upset by that sort of thing.

Is your DD actually upset, or does she understand it's just a joke? You could disable push notifications. The app itself is useful, it's not trying to get her into county lines or porn.

www.fastcompany.com/91313082/duolingo-dead-duo-owl-social-media-campaign

It isn't aimed specifically at children, that's their messaging and brand culture in general. My son thinks it's cute, I don't think it's harmful.

I set my Duolingo account up using an email that I don't use very often. When I did look at the account there were hundreds of emails along with some other spam types from other companies. I just pressed delete and unsubscribed from further emails. Job done.

The ipad's quite locked down (school set it up) and I don't think it would be normal for me to watch her every move on it. She gets about an hour of homework on it every night, but that's one for another thread...! She's a really good and conscientious kid (hence, she hasn't set up her own email or lied about her age and wanted to get onto a language learning site, nothing wild).

The emails are addressed to the account owner, not the parent, so I think Duolingo must be expecting her to have used her own email account, despite them saying it's a 'child account'.

I'm curious that they use the same messaging for adult accounts - it would turn me right off!

She's not seeing the messages because they're coming to my email. And I can probably disable the account.

I guess I'm just interested in whether people think these kinds of messages are appropriate for child account or not.

why did it send you an email to say your child has set up an account, and then use the same account to send messages to the account owner?
I think I gave up on Duolingo for the same reason, spammy emails all the time which didn’t motivate me at all. I don’t think my kids would have been upset by them though, they are just annoying.

I would say the tablet isn't locked down enough if a ten-year-old can install apps without your approval. I have to enter a password on the tablet or approve a notification on my phone for my kids to be able to install apps if they're signed in using the FamilyLink supervised accounts on Android.

To address your question though: no, I don't think those messages are great for a child account. They're the same ones used for adults, where I think most people understand the playful tone even if they don't love it, but something more neutral would be appropriate in a reminder for child accounts, if one is sent at all.

This is 100% what its like as an adult account

you can just disable the emails. i never get emails

My primary age daughter and I like to compare Duo's facial expressions every day to see whose is the creepiest. We both find them amusing rather than concerning.

You can just turn off the notifications. I use Duolingo and don't get any reminders or notifications because I turned them off in the app.
I use it and I'm learning European Spanish . I still find it useful for the vocabulary which is more or less the same. Also it isn't all Latin American Spanish

As a pp noted, how did your 10 yo download ANY app without you noticing? I'm starting to agree with smartphones being banned for younger age groups because their parents don't seem able to control what their kids access.

And as others said Duo push notifications don't differentiate between adults and children, some like them others find them annoying but I don't see how they're creepy.

Absolutely incredible (imo) there are people on this thread that have felt anxious because of these emails and had to cancel their account. I honestly sometimes wonder how people get out of bed in the morning or operate a phone. They aren’t creepy in my opinion and they are the same for adults or children. Opt out of emails. Simple.

It is a bit guilt-trippy. It wouldn't bother my kids, but if a child was an over-achiever or easily made anxious, it could affect them badly. I agree it's not great.

My phone pdf app gave me a really snarky message along the lines of "i've had enough of telling you to update your pdf app, don't blame me if you can't view your documents!" It's just stupid and unnecessary, nobody likes being spoken too like that. I don't see how they think it would make people more likely to do it. I deleted the app. I guess some people might find it funny, but surely more would be annoyed?**

Get a grip. It isn’t a porn site

The account was set up through the browser, not an app.

Omg yes!