THE ART OF ANNOYANCE…
I am a compulsive obsessive creature that tip-taps tattoos with my fingernails on any surface. I count the holes in my Crocs (there are 13,) I like having ten of anything, be it beads, cookies, peas…and always try to sort anything that comes in multiple numbers into groups of five. Actually groups of three and seven are also satisfying, and nine…not so much. I like having a central object in a group, with even numbers on each side…such as five candles, one in the center, two on each side. The thing about the nine is that there is a central with four on each side, but the best arrangement would be a group of three in the center and three on each side.
By now readers, if any, are either be nodding in understanding…or shaking their heads and saying “what a nut!”
Now a word or so about Noise. Aside from the tip-taps of fingernails, and occasional drum solos from a pen tip, noise can be produced by rocking a wine glass or coffee cup back and forth. Sound effects can be comforting, soothing, annoying–even maddening, depending on the situation. Some people like having a steady beat of time rhythm, and others, well…don’t.
IS THERE A POINT TO THIS?
The point to this writing is to discuss the problem of addiction to electronic games.
It occurs to me that games such as Candy Crush, and the numerous varieties of Bubble Busting games, are designed to invade the human mind in order to replace creative thinking with mindless repetitive preoccupations that have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
That may be harsh. I admit that my bubble-shooting skills have greatly improved. The goal, which is apparently to build up to a rush of excitement and sense of achievement when the next highest level is reached. Or, a more probable goal is to cause such frustration that players are so committed that the purchase of more bubbles or more coins becomes a pressing need, born out of desperation to get to the next level.
Here comes the point! 🙂
It is not only unhealthy to sit around playing games for hours, it is, for lack of a better word–stupid. Spending three or four hours shooting bubbles–even if watching CNN at the same time–is unproductive. If I had spent as much time crocheting scarves for holiday gifts, or beading bracelets, or even surfing the net in pursuit of higher education, as playing games, I would at least have something to show for the time.
The single most convincing nudge for me was when I started seeing racks of bubbles arranged in various patterns and colors IN MY DREAMS, it became obvious that it was time to stop it. Do something else with my Kindle Fire like reading the Washington Post, and working on my blog.
So, with this declaration of stopping wasting time on computer games I’ll go back to my other pursuits. I intend to delete all of the games from my tablet–today.
It won’t be the first time I’ve made a resolution that I’m proud of–I quit smoking cigarettes on my fortieth birthday after twenty-one years of lighting up. All my friends still smoked at the time, but believe it or not it was not all that difficult to quite cold turkey. I had three or four FULL PACKS of Salems in the downstairs fridge when I quit.. That was forty years ago.
Ah yes, there was a down-side: I gained thirty pounds within a year or two. Sigh, I still never regretted that I stopped smoking.
A State of Mind 
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