Am I a Phone Addict?

Anouk Ghosh-Poulshock

Student Writer

Am I addicted to the games on my phone?

With almost every teen, you can take a glance at their phone and see that they have social media. One major thing when people talk about teens and their phones is their addiction to social media. But what about their addiction to phone games? What games are they even playing? Which is worse: playing games or scrolling through Instagram? There are many assumptions when it comes to phone games.

In my personal experience, I have never stuck with a game for too long. Every month or so, I would switch games. First it was Subway Surfers, then Sudoku, then the Smurfs, then My Mini Mart, then Wordle. 

With most games, I would obsess over them for a while and then eventually get bored of them. One of those games was Candy Crush. In September, I was obsessed with the game for a few weeks, then I eventually burned out of it. In all of my free time, all I wanted to do was play Candy Crush. I would close my eyes and envision swiping candy. 

But recently, however, I have gotten back into the game again. One reason that this game really works is how social it can be. When you have friends on the app, you can share lives, compete on levels, and work together to win rewards. Sometimes, I’ll get a text from a friend needing a life, and once I send it, I’m wound up in the app again. 

I feel like a lot of teens are addicted to their phones, but I think that being addicted to a game like Candy Crush is better than being addicted to social media. For example, when I’m deeply in a Candy Crush wormhole, I’m not sucked into social media.  With social media, you never leave an app feeling satisfied. Social media feels much more negative for me. But with phone games, the worst you could do is waste money. If there are two options for wasting time, I would go with the games. While they aren’t quite productive, they are entertaining and have less negative effects. 

Though Candy Crush is my favorite game, the options vary. Looking at the App Store charts, the #1 most grossing app game of all time is Candy Crush. The list follows with Roblox, Royal Match, Clash of Clans, and Coin Master. Other games such as Pokemon Go and Homescapes are also on the list. I think that most of these games are not super popular among me and my friends. 

So am I an addict? I think so. But is it that bad? I don’t believe so. I think that there are many worse things that could be consuming my time. While games aren’t the most productive thing, they entertain me and are better than many other things, and I think that’s enough.