I got sucked down a rabbit hole. For the first time in a
year, I played a game on my phone. I first saw it as a puzzle, but as I got into
it there were obviously points and levels. I'm never sure with these phone games if the scoring actually means anything or not. They don't give a lot of instructions as to what I am getting points for. Is it speed? Is it the number of moves? Who knows!
Then there were the ads, so many ads.
Ads for other games. How many games does a guy need on his phone? There were ads for Bitcoin. What IS Bitcoin? I don’t even know. It was worse than watching a show on Hulu. I could advance maybe 3 levels before I had to watch 3 to 6 ads for things I did not care about one single bit. Oh, I know that I could pay money to see fewer ads. I could pay money to get additional games and probably pay more money to avoid the ads on those games too.
As I was falling down the hole, the ads I came across were
somewhat interesting but mostly annoying. I am sure that I do not need to play
a game where I am hanging out in
an alternate world or acting as the great decision
maker for characters in a story. I have already learned that God is God and I am not. No need to dabble in being God in a make-believe world. I certainly do not need to make the choice if a couple in the
clearing are better off with an umbrella or a tent in the rain, the make-believe rain. What are they
doing there in the first place? They're not dressed for these conditions. And who are they? Did they plan to get there? Why do
I need to choose for them? I have enough important decisions to make in my own
life, like where I’m going to eat before the concert tomorrow night or which coat I'm going to wear if it snows in the real world. First-world problems, I know.
I continued down the hole, though less rapidly than Alice did in her journey to Wonderland. That's when I came across WORD games. Now
as for word games, let me be abundantly clear. I don’t like them. I don't want to play them. I don't want to watch others play them. I don't want to be invited to play them. I don’t want to think
about words
when I’m playing a game unless it's Cards Against Humanity Family Edition. That is not a cell phone came, as far as I know. I guess I'll play Quiplash too with the right people who play appropriately. I don’t mind numbers as part of games. I
can handle symbols, pictures, and objects in games. Words do not a game make,
for me anyway. Please don’t tell me to “Install Now.” As if Scrabble wasn’t bad enough,
now it scrolls automatically. Does that mean it’s never-ending? Oh my! I am not installing this thing that will take up space and suck the life out of my phone and out of my brain if I ever try to use it. For all of you crossword puzzle enthusiasts and you BINGO aficionados, please forgive me for having such strong feelings about this. I have given it my fair shake. I've lost money at BINGO. I've left many a crossword puzzle unfinished. I've argued over my share of made-up words for Scrabble. You take your dictionary and go play in the other room. Thank you very much. Maybe I'm getting a bit opinionated as I grow older (my daughters hate it when I say that). This leads me further down the hole.
I must have been nearing the bottom the
ads tried desperately to get my attention. “How old is your brain?” Really? I need this game to tell me how old my brain is? I
know how old my brain is. It is as old as the rest of me. I’m pretty sure it was
developing in my mother’s womb as soon as any other part of me was taking
shape. My brain hasn’t aged any faster than my feet., my lungs, or my eyelashes. It has never taken a
sabbatical
from life and is somehow younger than my kneecaps, my liver, or my wrinkled skin. My brain is 54 years, 1 month,
29 days (and I’m not sure what time I was born) old.
Now ask me how FULL is my brain? How tired is my brain? How
messed up is my brain? Those are questions I’d like to see a game answer. The reality is that a game on my phone will not answer any of these questions about
me. Some games on my phone might keep my brain functioning better as I age. I’ll
concur that the ads that promote that may be correct. However, there are other
great things on my phone that help me care for my brain.
YouVersion is a great Bible App. I can read the entire
Bible on my cell phone. I can have it read to me and I can select from more translations than I
care to even know to exist. I can follow reading plans, discover devotionals, watch videos, and so
much more. I can even keep notes and highlight passages. I can do all of that
on my cell phone.
I can access ALL of my recent photos (when I say recent,
about 2008 on) with the phone that I carry with me in my pocket. I have so many photos that I took, including selfies. Who hasn't take a selfie? I have so many photos saved
that others whom I know took. I have lots of photos that people I don’t know took of things I’ve
never seen in person. Then there are photos others have taken of place that I
have also been. Some of the places I can look at are Yosemite, CA, Disneyland, Kansas,
Washington D.C. Actually, thanks to the internet, I can see almost any place in
the world. With virtual GPS I might even be able to see into your backyard.
Spotify is my music app of choice thanks to my oldest
daughter. It took me forever to get with the times but I now have too many
playlists for my own good. She and I share a playlist. My youngest and I share a playlist. My
wife and I share a playlist. I have Southern Gospel playlists, Country
playlists, Classical playlists, Movie theme playlists, and the playlists go on
and on and on. iTunes used to be my source for music. At some point and time, most of the
music I purchased and put on iTunes has disappeared from my technology. Glad to
have contributed to someone’s wealth, iTunes...Oh well. I did get a lot of enjoyment out of it. What I still haven't figured out is how music artists are making any money these days. I haven't purchased a CD, cassette, 8-track tape, or record in years.
Then there is my CPW Fishing app. This is the app I use in order to choose where I
want to fish in Colorado. I can use this app to figure out what kind of fish I should be catching. I can get condition reports, find out bag limits, and even learn the latest fishing techniques. There is a section with the "Catch of the Week." On this app, I am able to discover when a body of water was last stocked with fish, how accessible the lake is, and if I were
totally crazy, I could log all of my outings. Instead, when I fish I use my
phone to listen to Spotify or to Podcast, which is a whole other function of
the cell phone that I’m not really going to go into today.
So I thought that I was going to solve a puzzle that looked intriguing
to me; how quickly and easily can I untangle several strands of rope. Instead,
I have pulled you down the cell phone rabbit trail with me. I hope you’ve
enjoyed the journey. You can invite me to listen to Podcasts you like. You can
share music with me. You can send me fun, inspirational photos if you would
like, especially if you catch a big fish. But don’t challenge me to any of your games on the phone. I won’t be playing!
Thanks for reading,
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