I haven’t mentioned it much on here, but I’ve recently been caught up in the game Pokemon GO – way too caught up. I’ve been opening it whenever I have a free moment, and often when I don’t, both at home and at work. Worse, I’ve gotten my son hooked, too.
It came to a head this weekend with a two-day event that created a sense of scarcity. There were some tempting parts of the game that could only be accomplished over the weekend, and we both got sucked into it – chances to get rare and powerful pokemon. But then my son missed a couple of his chances through gameplay issues and that crushed him – sending him into a spiral of disappointment and whining that all-but ruined the day for the rest of us. (A day on which my daughter took gold in a piano competition and the focus should have been all about her!)
But it was all my fault. It was a wake-up call.
I need to stop playing so much and I need to use my free time more wisely – working on my writing, etc. That is where my mind should be when I have a few free moments, not on games.
It’s a love-hate relationship, though. Part of me really wants these games because I need the escape from the stress of my day job. But I almost always get too sucked in, and that’s something I need to fix. If I’m going to obsess over something, it should be something that is productive. And sets a good example.