Duolingo Seeks to Save Gen Z from the Rabbit Hole of Mindless Scrolling with ‘The Concentrator 2000'

Duolingo is famous for using push notifications to help remind its users to do their daily lessons and keep the momentum of learning a new language going. However, that's not the norm. Pesky app notifications often distract users from focusing on a single task, pushing them down the rabbit hole of mindless scrolling instead of letting them finish their Duolingo lesson. In its new campaign, the language learning app aims to transform Gen Z's phone usage from 'mindless' to 'mindful'. This task required the help of nothing short of a visionary inventor. 

Created by independent creative agency UltraSuperNew, Tokyo, the campaign takes a humorous and zany approach to speak to and engage with its audience. Duolingo teamed up with Japanese inventor/content creator Marina Fujiwara, a social influencer famous for her zany and bizarre useless inventions. The inventor - who was listed in Forbes Japan 30 Under 30 in 2022 - created the ‘The Concentrator 2000’ (patent not pending), a device which you put your phone into, open the Duolingo app, and forget about being distracted. 

The behind-the-scenes style film breathes the lo-fi aesthetics that characterize Marina’s work which, paired with her deadpan delivery and DIY contraptions, have made her a household name with creators and the Twitterverse alike. 

The film will be shared on Duolingo and Marina Fujiwara’s Twitter channels.

Marina Fujiwara, content creator and inventor said: “I was delighted to collaborate with Duolingo, which I always use. I solved (?) the problem of getting distracted by notifications on my smartphone while studying, which is something that has been bothering me.”

Sho Mizutani, Duolingo Japan country manager commented: “One of the great things about Duolingo is that you can learn a language as an extension of enjoying social media and games. For most people, especially younger folks, it's not uncommon to have spent 5-6 hours of screen time on their smartphone without realizing it. If they can spend even a small portion of that time, say 15 minutes, on Duolingo, it could become a productive time for many people. That's how this campaign started. Thanks to the amazing creativity of UltraSuperNew and Marina Fujiwara, we were able to create a charming and humorous project.”

Oguzcan Kaganoguzbeyoglu, associate creative director, UltraSuperNew, Tokyo added: “We live in strange times where a vast amount of possibilities are at the end of our fingertips, as well as the countless distractions we increasingly fall for. It's been great to work with our client and work with the genius inventor Marina on portraying this ridiculous problem with an equally ridiculous solution, the ‘The Concentrator 2000’. Besides some laughter, we truly hope that this invention will drive some viewers to rethink how they spend their precious screen time".