Tuesday, January 31, 2023 by Bonnie Synhorst | Technology

From circa 2017 until January 31, 2022 my life was ‘enriched’ by a silly game I had on my iPhone called Wizards Unite.  I thought it was a wonderful excuse to get out and walk as it gave me rewards for my distance walked and encouraged me to walk further, visit certain neighborhood landmarks, and catch virtual adversaries and foundables.  

This is great, you may be thinking, as it encouraged me to get outside and meet fellow Wizards Unite players.  But in retrospect, it dictated my comings and goings.  If I had a chance to be staring at my screen in hopes of catching a rare dragon or adversary, I would certainly do that rather than do something productive that I should be doing.  

Here is a good point in my writing to remind any reader as well as myself that I’m an adult.  I know better.  I had work to do and life to live and yet I spent countless unproductive hours on this silly game.  To go a step further, I played this game with my family and my neighbor who went on nightly wizarding walks with me.  (One good thing to come from it is we still go on almost nightly walks sans silly game). 

Parents, please be mindful of your children’s device habits.  The addiction is real and troubling.  YOU are the adult.  These children are our future and giving in to their immediate wants of the games and trends are corroding and corrupting their minds.  

As a private music instructor, I witness the unfortunate side effects of device usage daily.  Children who should have ample amounts of time to practice, are instead frittering their time away on these devices and then stating that they had NO time.  

I could say more, but I’m going to leave it at this for today: If I, as an adult role model who works very hard and is reasonably intelligent (at least I think enough so that I can discern what activities are good for me and which ones should be skipped), was able to fall prey to the thrill of leveling up and collecting all of the items and rewards, how is a child who is still learning how to make the best decisions for themselves able to resist such things on their own?  Simple answer:  they aren’t.