A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL

Games on Facebook are an incredible time suck. When you work on your laptop all day, which is always online, you have to make a special effort not to get distracted. The internet itself is distraction enough. You are writing about something and you need to research a point. So you go to Google and the next thing you know one point leads to something else interesting which leads to something else…. So you have to make a special effort to limit your Facebook time and the games are off limits. I have blocked more game apps than I would have imagined there were games.

Then a while ago, I noticed a lot of people were playing something called Candy Crush Saga. I got an invite from a friend who plays every game out there. She has a government job. This is what she does all day. This is where our tax dollars go. She invites. I block. The game, not her. I feel she is actually doing me a service. She is letting me know what to block so I don’t get flooded with invites. Then one day I saw an ad for Candy Crush Saga on TV. Now, I watch very little TV. The news once a day. Followed by Days of Our Lives which I have on the DVR. 60 Minutes on Sunday. And on Saturday night, following the news, something from the DVR which is usually something like Downton Abbey or Mr. Selfridge. They are not interrupted by ads and I fast forward through the ads on Days. So it had to be the news or 60 Minutes. That’s big money for an ad. So I asked my son how some stupid game could afford such an ad and he told me there is big money in games. A couple of days later, my curiosity got the better of me and I unblocked the game and tried it. It is like getting hooked on a drug. You can’t stop. And it is such a stupid, simple, mindless game.  After a few days, I knew it was getting out of hand. I blocked it again. Three days later I was jumping out of my skin and unblocked it. I won’t spend a dime, I’m too cheap, so sometimes I am stuck on a level for quite a while. But I persist. What amazes me is who my fellow addicts are. The ones I actually know. Several well known authors, two journalists, two librarians, three television personalities, four DJs, three Realtors, four lawyers and three elected officials amongst others. I confess I interrupted writing this to play a round. I plan my moves like I was planning the Allies’ invasion of Normandy. Because this is extra hard for me as I am dyslexic. Move left, move right, it can be an issue. It takes concentration. I hope there is a special place in hell for whoever invented this game. My fear is, however, it will be an exaulted place because the devil himself wants three extra moves.