Why would I want more stress?

I moved my apps around on my phone on January 1, trying to not play so many pointless games. I'll still do the Wordle and Connections game with my husband every night, and I still do three small exercises on my Elevate app, but the Blockudoku, Fishdom and Puzzledom are largely based on luck of what pieces come up next. I was still playing Nonogram and Sudoku for a bit, but even those became easy for me. So I relocated them all together in one bundle of apps and labeled it "WRITE INSTEAD." And here I am!

Sadly, I'm still looking for a better game. One that helps me learn or helps me become more intelligent somehow. I'm still on TikTok about once a day, and here was an ad for a game that popped up on my feed:

The two pics are the same game. (The videos came one after the other.) As I'm preparing to share "Shifting Away from Stress" at IDEACon in February, I wonder... isn't this game causing more stress? Shouldn't we be "playing" games instead of stressing ourselves out? Why would you want to play something that gives you anxiety? What a terrible advertisement.

So... the apps I used the most this month on my phone are Duolingo, Babbel, Calm, and, of course, TikTok - but I have a time limit on that one. 😉 I have my family and friends, my walks, my books, my journals, and my blog for when I know I need to be off my phone. Here's to more of this in 2024!

Head over to Two Writing Teachers for more slice of life stories.