Against review debt

Anyone who has kept a review queue knows the feeling. You miss a week. You come back. The number is enormous, and it is entirely about the past.

Queues like this quietly change the goal. The learner stops asking what would help today and starts asking how to make the number go down. Sessions become about clearing, not learning.

Passage does not keep a debt. You say how much time you have. The system chooses the most useful things that fit in it — which will often include reinforcement that is due, because spacing matters, but chosen on value rather than owed by date.

Missing time is normal. It should cost you nothing but the time you missed.