WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 - UNPLUGGING

 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 - UNPLUGGING

Lately, I’ve been spending WAY-TO-MUCH time on my phone. 

There is a National Day of Unplugging (First Friday in March).

I believe in keeping my mind active as a deterrent to dementia.  Years ago, I read that learning and practicing a foreign language is a great way to keep your brain active.  For the past seven years, I’ve been doing lessons on Duolingo.  (Of course, true to my frugal nature, I use the free version, so I am bombarded with ads - do a lesson of sixteen terms and get a 20-second ad.  

My ego and honor also get involved, so I have four and a half years of doing at least one lesson daily.  Four and one-half years of doing at least one German lesson.  Pretty neat, isn’t it?  

I’m not sure if I am a little (or a lot) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).  Doing a lesson is nice - but Duolingo has levels - the highest level is the Diamond Level.  And I try to be at the diamond level. If you do 15 minutes of lessons, you also earn points - and you can earn the monthly prize (of course, there isn’t a real prize, but I get an internal Duolingo “badge.”  My name has a star and 4+ next to it to show that I have completed at least one lesson over four years.  There are other incentives to keep an active streak on Duolingo - like more “Gems” (an overall measure of a person’s process).  There are weekly competitions to reach another goal (like 500 points with another person.

The goal of Duolingo is to get people learning and speaking a foreign language.  But my OCD “demands” me to get the points (and maybe, along the way, get better at German).  

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So, if I do Duolingo for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, I get DOUBLE POINTS - and if I get enough points, I can be in the top ten for the week. And I keep my 4.5-year streak going.

And there is a weekly two-person competition - and I like doing well.

The result is that I spend 1.5 to 2 hours a day on Duolingo.  

I do “Words with Friends” - a Scrabble-like game - and I play maybe ten games a day.

I do a daily crossword puzzle online.

I do two different daily Sudoku puzzles online.

And - I signed up to play Royal Match - and I do that online. (And, that is time consuming too)

The result of all this gaming is that I spend three to six hours daily playing games.  Yes, they are learning games (generally).  But six hours a day on playing games?  Some days, I don’t get my exercise done.  Why not?  Because I “HAVE” to get my points in these games. 

TIME-OUT!!!

WHY AM I DOING ALL THESE GAMES?

Well - because they challenge my brain.  Okay, that’s good - and probably better than watching five hours of television.  

I’m going to have to scale back.  

If I want to keep learning German, only to do 20 minutes a day - 10 minutes in the morning and 10 in the evening - and forget about contesting for the weekly “awards”

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I feel like I’ve “committed” to " nice " activities - but they are not vital to my personal goals.  

(I haven’t even talked about social media - where I do X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. )

PRIORITIES, KAREN!!!!

I even have missed days of blog writing (because I “have” to do my “brain-boosting” games!!!)

Tough choice.

LOVE WINS

LOVE CAN BE SPELLED AS “T  I  M  E” - and I’m spending time on games and not in loving others!!!

OUCH 

Karen Anne White, ©, JANUARY 24, 2024