Streaks - Yay or Nay?

No, not THAT kind of streak - get your mind out of the gutter!

But seriously.

Streaks. Streak features on apps, I mean. They seem to be a thing, now, don’t they?

But are they a good thing?

I know they’re supposed to be motivating, but really that is putting us in competition with ourselves, isn’t it? And I know a lot of people can find them damaging to their mental health. They can become obsessed with maintaining their streaks, and if they break their streak, especially if it’s been a long one, it can really wreak havoc with their mental health. I’ve had many people tell me so in a Facebook group I manage for the Calm meditation app. They turn the streak feature off because seeing it stresses them out.

I’m the type of person that can really get fixated on things like streaks, myself, so I get it.

I personally don’t look at my Calm streak, but every so often I accidentally click on the profile button that brings up my streak, which is below.

I’ve obviously been using the app for a long time - just over 8 years.

I don’t know how I’d feel if I accidentally broke my streak for some reason. But… I don’t think it’d be a good feeling.

Why do we do this? Why do we have these ‘streaks’ on various apps that put unnecessary pressure and expectation on ourselves? It’s…well, as I just said, unnecessary. Life is stressful enough without various apps having these ‘streak’ features staring us in the face and pushing us when maybe we don’t want to be pushed? Maybe we need a bit of a break from doing XYZ, and that’s okay too. But breaking these streaks can often feel disproportionally…bad. Can make us feel like a failure. When really, is it such a big deal if we miss a day of meditation? Or of using, say, my Peloton app, or Strava, as the streaks below from both those apps, show.

It can feel like a HUGE deal. When, in the overall scheme of things, of life, it isn’t. But apps that have streak features can make it feel like it is - there must be some psychology around the whole ‘streak’ thing since it seems like a whole lot of apps have this function.

But I feel obligated to use my Peloton app to keep my streak going, because those words are the first thing I see when I open the app!

We often feel like we have to compete with others in our lives. At least I feel that way. And it doesn’t have to be in huge ways. Maybe it’s more subtle. You might be competing to get a new job. Or you might be competing at your workplace to get some sort of accolades (employee of the month, maybe?). Maybe with how you dress to keep up appearances.

But why should we now feel like we need to complete with ourselves too?!

Yes a bit of pressure on ourselves can help motivate us to reach our goals, but there are obvious downsides.

My Strava streak, shown below for 2024, wasn’t very long, but again, streaks could lead, as I said, to negative emotions towards yourself - guilt, shame, anger even, causing a mental health spiral.

In terms of activity or fitness, trying to continue a streak can lead to injury trying to maintain it.

I used to use a gratitude journal app (called Gratitude), and it had a streak function, as you’ll see below. And I did use it for 276 days in a row. But then I gradually stopped using it (but obviously still have the app on my phone - I should probably get rid of it!).

Obviously a gratitude journal is a positive thing. But is a streak really necessary with this? I don’t think so.

As I said at the start, I know they’re supposed to be motivating and encouraging. And many people do find streaks helpful. But many people do not.

What are your thoughts and feelings around streaks? Are you yay or nay? Do you find them helpful or harmful?

I definitely lean more towards the harmful end of things, though I can find them helpful at times as well.

And don’t forget to live with a dose of wonder!

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