  As online educational technology products have become increasingly prevalent,
rich evidence indicates that learners often find it challenging to establish
regular learning habits and complete their programs. Concurrently, online
products geared towards entertainment and social interactions are sometimes so
effective in increasing user engagement and creating frequent usage habits that
they inadvertently lead to digital addiction, especially among youth. In this
project, we carry out a contest-based intervention, common in the entertainment
context, on an educational app for Indian children learning English.
Approximately ten thousand randomly selected learners entered a 100-day reading
contest. They would win a set of physical books if they ranked sufficiently
high on a leaderboard based on the amount of educational content consumed.
Twelve weeks after the end of the contest, when the treatment group had no
additional incentives to use the app, they continued their engagement with it
at a rate 75\% higher than the control group, indicating a successful formation
of a reading habit. In addition, we observed a 6\% increase in retention within
the treatment group. These results underscore the potential of digital
interventions in fostering positive engagement habits with educational
technology products, ultimately enhancing users' long-term learning outcomes.
