Soooooo....I believe we discussed in these pages before the Facebook idea of “Friends”. The word has taken a beating over the last 20 years beginning with the ubiquitous TV show but really now has been victimized. Facebook says I have 512 friends. Any of you who know me know how unlikely it is that I have 5 friends much less 512. I think I have 4-5 close friends including my wife. I might have another 20 or lets be really generous to me, 50 people who enjoy my company and perhaps another 100 who tolerate my bloviating, preaching, adolescent (once again being charitable) sense of humor and extremely poor personal hygiene. So that puts me at around 150 people (including family) who might be considered “friends”. But I come here not to discuss Facebook....
Instead we need to think on my iPhone. I have been very, very careful while establishing my solo law practice over the last 8 months to NOT DOWNLOAD GAMES on my iPhone. There is something so tempting about annoying all of the people and “Friends” around you so that you can lose yourself in your little hand held device. One need only to look around any crowd of people to see... well...everyone under 27...thumbing away on their iPhone or other hand held device. I ask what is going on and I am told, “Angry Birds”. I still don’t know what that means. Why are the birds angry? What was done to them? I have never found out.
But one day I saw my son was playing something that looks like “Scrabble”. I ask and he tells me he is playing “words”. He shows me. I like word games. it does not seem dangerous. On night I have to chaperon my daughters Senior Prom and I know I am going to be bored and so I download it for free from the App Store. It took approximately ½ hour for my wife to start to yell at me. I was obviously obsessed. I was horrible at it to start with because I did not reckon the importance of your double and triple word and letter scores but was more impressed by my own ability to make long words... setting up my competitor. My first game was against a gal I went to law school with 25 years ago. You find your opponents through Facebook or Twitter or just get a random opponent. She killed me. For the record i did better in law school. It became relatively clear to me that with my obsessive compulsive personality that i was doomed. I find I am using my phone more to keep up my game than to keep in touch. That is one of the insidious things about these games.... they wait for you. You get notified when the other guy plays but you can play anytime in like the next...week. But it would be rude to make them wait so you ignore your family, ignore your clients...Friends indeed.
From there I tried Chess With Friends. Slightly disappointing due to not many “Friends” who play but then Hanging With Friends came out and now I had another word game. These are all pretty good games but I am focusing today on what becomes of these “Friends” relationships? If they are used socially on Facebook and now used for gaming, where does it go next. Gambling with Friends? Strippers with Friends? Church with Friends? These people can do anything with me.... by virtue of my iPhone. It is starting to get frightening and I wonder if I am going to need to get another name for the people who I used to call my friends. My real friends, in real life I mean. What do I call them?
My peeps?
My posse?
My...pals?
All of these options seem a little sickening but someone needs to formally protest or perhaps file an injunctive suit to stop them from doing further damage to the concept of being “friends”.
The one thing competing with people by games confirms is... these people are NOT my Friends.
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