Mommy's Project 52:24 Playing

Let's talk Angry Birds.  Let's just lay it on the table here, you're addicted.  It's OK, you can admit it!  You're not alone.  There are many, many of us in the same boat.  I will include myself in that fine group.  Shall we all admit it together?  Here we go, say it with me:

"I'M ADDICTED TO ANGRY BIRDS."

Quite likely, the biggest time suck since Facebook

There, now doesn't that feel better?  What's that?  No?  You had to put down Angry Birds to read this blog?

Angry Birds is responsible for hours and hours of lost productivity in my house, and I'm not just laying that on myself and Hot Dad.  Once the kids got a taste of the game, they were instantly hooked.  We have now forced my son to go cold turkey in order to cure his addiction to playing Angry Birds, and so far, it's going OK.  My daughter was hooked, but able to give it up on her own, choosing to play with dolls, her own toys, and read books.  It's remarkable. 

My husband started playing Angry Birds before any of us.  He downloaded it on his iPod Touch, and when I say he played all the time, I mean he played all the time.  I think he would only stop to sleep a few hours at night, and work during the day.  All other waking moments were all consumed by Angry Birds. 

Next, I downloaded the Angry Birds Free version on my iPod Touch.  I wasn't going to spend all of $0.99 for a game!  Are you crazy?  Quickly, however, I learned the reason for the obsession that had overcome my husband, and which was the talk of the billions of people who just couldn't stop playing.  Soon, the free version would not be enough to satisfy me.

It wasn't long before Hot Dad purchased RIO, and then not long before Seasons.  If you needed to find Hot Dad, you'd generally find him on the couch in the family room playing Angry Birds.  It then became a fight for his iPod.  Who had first dibs?  Who would get to play now?  HOW DID YOU CLEAR THAT LEVEL, I'VE BEEN TRYING FOR WEEKS?

I digress.

Eventually, I gave in and downloaded the original Angry Birds.

Come August of last year, Hot Dad needed his own mobile phone.  To the surprise of no one, he came home with an iPhone.  We now have three devices in the house capable of silencing us all and forcing us to avoid interaction with each other for potentially hours on end.  Incredible.

Before long, Fred needed time playing Angry Birds more than food or sleep.  Hot Dad saw his own addiction and for some reason began to cut back his playing time, and this, my friends, is how families are torn apart.  They fight over iPods and iPhones trying to get time to play Angry Birds.  Four people, three devices, varying levels of addiction, and only so much time in a day.

Our time off over the holidays proved to Hot Dad and me that little Fred was as reliant on playing Angry Birds as a meth addict is on his drug.  I call Angry Birds the meth of video games.  It's nearly impossible to stop.  I guess you could equate it to Lay's potato chips, too, though.  Can't stop eating them playing it!

The new year and the return to school and work has helped us all deal with our addition to Angry Birds.  I still take my iPod to bed with me so I can check FB, a message board, and play some Angry Birds.  It doesn't keep me up at night like I used to, though.  Now that I'm back into my routine and running regularly again (the holidays sure screw up your schedule, don't they?), I am less reliant on those birds.  I've moved on.  I've found something new.  Sadly, I've found The Sims Free Play. 

And you thought I was going to post up cute pictures of my kids playing together, family game night, the kids playing an instrument, or one of us playing a sport or something.  So silly.

What game are you addicted to playing?