I have successfully avoided having any video games .on my phone for several years.
But then a couple of days ago, in a moment of weakness, and for no justifiable reason, I decided to download a Solitaire app.
And it didn’t take long before I became addicted.
I would tell myself, “just one more game”, or “I’ll keep playing until I win, and then I’ll stop.” Well as you might have guessed, I didn’t listen to myself.
I would win, and instead of calling it quits, I would then see if I could win two in a row. And of course, since that rarely happened, I would then jut keep playing until I finally won again.
And perhaps the worse part of this is that since I am using the free, ad-supported version of the game, I am stuck watching an ad every time I want to play a new game. And one of the ads is almost two minutes long. It’s painful, and you think that would be enough to make me just quit right there and do something productive.
But it isn’t.
So hopefully by putting all of this down in writing, I will realize how foolish I am being, and I will just stop cold turkey.
Quick follow-up – the post seemed to do the trick. After I went back to edit this before hitting publish, I deleted the game off my phone…
I used to play that. When my phone started getting too full, that was one of the first things to go. Don’t miss it a bit.
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It’s been an hour now since I deleted it, and I am doing fine so far 🙂
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Instead play a real game of solitaire with actual deck of cards? Yeah that sounded just as corny as I wrote it out. Lol
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that seems like a lot of effort 🙂
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Yeah your right!! Effort is entirely overrated. Lol
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👍
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Games are built to be addictive. That has been a trend today.
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and I am proof! 🙂
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Back in the early days of Sinclair Spectrums and Amstrads, we boght computer games on a cassette from the 7/11 store for £1.99 and connected said computer to the portable TV on a kitchen shelf. Favourites were the Dizzy series and Popeye.
At that time I wasn’t working, since my children were not yet at school and pre-school childcare in those days involved a waiting list and more money that I would be earning in the hours available. While the older two were at school and the others at playschool or asleep, I would work my way through each new game with the single-mindedness of an addict until I’d beaten it.
Eventually I went cold turkey. I realised I would either spend my days chained to a computer game, resenting the time taken to feed my family or walk the dogs, or I would have to give them up completely. Apart from a brief Tetris period on my mobile phone while commuting on the underground when I was between paperbacks, I haven’t touched an electronic game since then.
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so you can relate to what I am talking about. and while playing a game while commuting may seem innocent, it is a slippery slope 🙂
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Don’t feel bad, Jim. They are purpose built to keep you engaged and playing. You found the one only sure-fired way to put them down, delete them from your phone.
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those game designers are masters of getting people addicted. I’m up to 10 hours of being solitaire free… 🙂
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I think you did the right thing, it gives you back the power to use your time as you choose, it’s easy to become addicted to things like that, that’s what they’re meant to do –
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well it succeeded in getting me addicted. but it does feel nice to have it off my phone…
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Like losing ten pounds – a weight off
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yes, indeed…
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I seldom play games on my phone, but I find when I do, they become addicting fast. I’ve deleted a few, but I still have a few on there for days when I’m bored. (Which never really happens, yet sometimes I still manage to play. Go figure.)
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I think that’s part of the problem. we always find a way to play them, even when we really don’t want to!
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Exactly.
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I hope you checked your winning stats before you deleted the game.
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the stats would have been a sad reminder of my addiction…
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Sounds worse than being addicted to blog stats, which I am pretty sure all bloggers are.
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I’m glad to know I’m not alone about being obsessed about my WP stats!
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I don’t play games on my iPhone – the screen isn’t big enough, so I use the iPad instead 😉
You make a fair point, though. The organisation I used to work for runs a service for gaming addicts. Believe me, you are a long way from being like their patients. Yes, patients – addiction is a form of illness.
There is a balance, though. I find that playing a few games each day helps keep the brain cells moving around. The trick is not to let it take over your life – you already have your blog stats for that…
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I guess I’m the dream client for the people that build software apps since I get sucked in so easily. But it’s been over 12 hours now, and I don’t miss it. Are there any games you’d recommend?
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I’ve heard that Solitaire is good…
It’s good to know the cold turkey is going well. I play the free version of Microsoft Solitaire. It isn’t too bad for adverts, and they set a daily challenge which includes each of the five games in the app. If you stick to that, it doesn’t suck you into the ‘one more go’ syndrome. I also do a brain trainer – the one I use is Peak Brain Training. I’ve been doing it for long enough that they invited me to be a beta tester, which gives a bit more flexibility. It has a good range of games to get you thinking in different ways. Might be worth a look?
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thanks for the suggestion on Peak Brain Training. I know when I was playing Solitaire, one of the ads I kept seeing was for Elevate, which I think is also a brain trainer. I might give both of them a look… Thanks!
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There are quite a few of them, so it’s worth looking at more than one. Good luck!
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👍
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I am still playing Wordblitz and Quiz Planet on my phone/ipad and desktop – with 5 friends at the most and a couple of those are only playing with me, so I feel honour bound to keep going. I will just have a quick round before I write my blog… some of the multi choice questions are hilarious – which one of these was not a president of the USA Trump, Lincoln, Ghengis Khan…
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I think playing with friends provides a nice social component to the games. Nice that the games sprinkle in some humor…
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Good for you! I still play a word game on my phone and make a point to look away when the ads are on 🙂
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the ads can drive you crazy… 🙂
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I sometimes close my eyes 🙂
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I tried switching to something else on my phone while the was playing, but that just makes the ad stop until you come back again! clever programming…
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Yeah, you definitely can’t switch to something else. You know that the next invention will be that it only works when you make eye contact with the ad!
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Deleting the app is the best solution. I had the same problem with Candy Crush.
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I like his short and to the point style of writing…
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did you delete Candy Crush?
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I finished reading your post and realised I’d been playing…drawn in my the daily challenge! I glanced across and I’d got caught up playing and hadn’t read any of a book I’m enjoying. I observed my nuttiness and deleted the apps from my phone. Thanks, Jim.
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I hope you don’t suffer any withdrawal symptoms! 🙂
It’s been 15 hours for me now, and I’ve been fine so far…
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Keep hanging in there, buddy….
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🙂
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I got addicted to a “paint” by numbers app. The ads aren’t too bad and I keep my media volume OFF, so it’s generally tolerable.
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I’ve heard those paint by apps are a bit addicting, as well as a bit calming. Which one did you use? Smart move with the volume…
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HappyColor. It only forces ads when you launch and finish pictures. But you can watch 30sec ads to get hints, cause they always include teeny tiny nearly invisible cells. Most times I can find them, sometimes I don’t want to bother. I leave volume off and do other things till the ad ends.
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thanks for the info and for the tips; I might have to give it a try – hopefully without becoming addicted!
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If you try the app, the “blend” images are a bitch. The “rare” images fill in blended colors.
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thanks for the tips! not sure what they mean at this point, but I’m sure I’ll learn soon once I try it 🙂
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Do you have Weblock on your phone? It’s a great App for ad blocking
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no I do not; I will have to check it out. thanks for the tip, Tandy!
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Good for you Jim! Another game app “bites the dust” and is now “gone with the wind.” Oops, I am encroaching upon your weekly music posts. Better read another post with something to matter from your blather. (beware of a poet’s twist with words)
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I like the music references, and good luck finding something matters on my site 🙂
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No worries about finding something . . . I always bring my magnifying glass. I don’t want to miss any of the smallest details.
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I look forward to seeing what you find. 😀
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Those games are weirdly addictive!
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indeed they are!
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I have trie games on my phone before and just not my thing. I also hate the ads!
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those ads can become quite annoying; it’s just a question of what wins out – the addiction or the pain of the ads…
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