What is Streaks?
A streak counter turns daily use into something you can lose. The longer it grows, the more breaking it feels like losing real progress, so you log in even on days you don't want to.
Where it comes from
Snapchat (2015)
How it hooks you
Exploits loss aversion and sunk cost: each day added to the streak raises the perceived cost of missing one.
What the research shows
Researchers have documented teens sharing their login credentials with friends before vacations just to keep streaks alive.
Source: Kuss & Griffiths, 'Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned', IJERPH (2017)
How to resist it
Let low-value streaks end on purpose, and notice how little actually changes when they do.