Finally! That level was really hard! I hate to think how much time I spent on it – damn that chocolate! Alright, onto the next… Oh no, I’m out of levels again. Quick, buy more. OK, here we go.
If this sounds familiar to anyone it may be that you are addicted to Candy Crush Saga as I once was. If not candy crush perhaps its zombies and plants, flappy bird, pet farm, angry birds, tiny tower…and the list goes on. People are getting rich on making these apps, and people are writing books about how to get rich on making these apps. But you know that, right? And you don’t care. Because this is your ‘me-time’, your escape from the busy-ness and chaos that surrounds you, down time, a little mindless fun.
I get it. I was you. But recently I was talking to a friend about mindfulness, about consciously developing the ability to give my complete attention to one thing at a time – whether it be meditation, writing or just driving. She confessed that she uses Candy Crush to unwind and wondered whether this was the same thing as mindfulness.
I had to think about it. I know what she means. I used to love that time, sitting on the couch staring at the small screen of my phone moving CGI jewels and candies around. I could do it for hours. It took so little focus that I felt it freed my mind to wander at the same time as preventing it from dwelling on the worries which lay in wait to beset me if I just sat still with no distraction. I felt mindless.
But there it is – I don’t think mindless is the same thing as mindful. When you are in a state of mindfulness you are giving your full attention to whatever it is you are doing, no matter what that thing is. By contrast, a state of mindlessness allows your mind to wander, never giving your full attention to anything, including the ‘game’ you are playing on the screen in front of you and whatever it is you are ‘thinking’ about.
I mentioned that I used to be addicted to Candy Crush Saga. And I used to think of it in the same way my friend described – mindless escapism and mental down time – something I needed to keep me sane. At the time I was in a stressful job from which I did not derive a great deal of satisfaction. I kept saying I wanted to read more, write more, exercise more, do some meditation, maybe take on some volunteer work – if only I had more time. It was after a conversation about these unfulfilled desires that my partner one day challenged me to record the amount of time I was spending playing Candy Crush Saga. I agreed somewhat defiantly, confident that it wouldn’t add up to much time. After only a couple of days I was forced to eat my words. When I added it all up I was spending more than 3 hours per day playing this game! This included time on the train and sitting in front of the TV at night, taking in not much of the trash playing out in front of me on the larger screen.
And in this time, what was I producing? If I’m truthful I can’t recall a single time I solved a problem (other than how to get to the next level) while I was playing candy crush. I couldn’t carry on a conversation while I was playing. If I had a great idea it came to me when I was cooking, or showering or talking with someone. In fact much of what I thought about while I was playing candy crush I couldn’t remember once I switched off the game. As soon as I tried to grasp my thoughts as I played I wasn’t giving sufficient attention to the game anymore. Try it for yourself. Set an alarm and play candy crush – or whatever it is for you – for 20 mins. Once the alarm goes off try to recall everything you thought about while you were playing. If you can I’ll bet you didn’t complete a level in that 20 minutes. Am I right?
For me, I realised that I was spending upwards of 3 hours a day in completely unproductive activity and complaining that I didn’t have enough time to do the things I really wanted to do! I deleted Candy Crush from my phone (along with several replica apps) and gave myself back three hours per day. I found I was able to get through many more books. My relationship with my partner improved because I started bringing my full attention to our conversations. And eventually I found some time for writing and meditation.
I’m not pretending that I became a paragon of mindful virtue when I stopped playing candy crush, or that I don’t sometimes miss that sense of vacant mindlessness I could achieve by shifting candies around a screen. But I realised that feeling is not the same as mindfulness and I decided that doing the things I said I wanted to do was a higher priority for me than getting to the next level.
