They don’t call it Trivia Crack for nothing

In the car Monday, I heard just a bit of this National Public Radio story, Bored … And Brilliant? A Challenge to Disconnect From Your Phone. 

By using my iPhone, I later was able to find the story and listen to all of it. But that might be the last of the good things I can say today about my smart-phone. According to the story, the research group, Flurry, found that mobile consumers spend an average of 2 hours and 57 minutes each day on their mobile devices.

Manoush Zomorodi, host of the WNYC podcast New Tech City, said in the story that she averages 50 to100 phone check-ins per day, many of which she uses to play a game called TwoDots.

Before anyone goes all Judge Judy about this, you might try Moment, the iPhone app Zomorodi uses to track how many times she checks her phone each day and the amount of time she spends using it. And she is partnering her podcast with Moment for a week-long project called Bored and Brilliant: The Lost Art Of Spacing Out, which will start Feb. 2.

I have not downloaded Moment. Nor am I sure about participating in the week-long challenge, because I already know I am an iPhone addict. This photo was taken in 2011 during a break for refreshments and fellowship with some of my bicycling friends with whom I was riding on the High Trestle Trail.  With plenty of justification, the friend who took this photo used it to tease me.

Sadly,my iPhone dependence hasn’t diminished in the four years since this photo was taken. Like Zomorodi, my phone usage has expanded beyond sites such as Facebook and Twitter to include games. For me it’s Trivia Crack. And I am not alone. Far from it.

But I’m not even really good at it. According to the app, I have correctly answered 698 questions since I started playing Trivia Crack awhile back. I have won 22 games and lost 19, which, ironically, is identical to Kirk Ferentz’s career winning percentage in the Big 10 during his 15 seasons as head football coach at the University of Iowa. And I’m in the crowd that thinks he should be fired.

So that might be my answer. Maybe I should just fire myself from Trivia Crack, Facebook and the rest of it. This would be welcomed by the teen and preteen I live with — to say nothing of their mother, who often appears to view my phone addiction with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. It is often pointed out by one of the three of them that I am on my phone.

For someone with a short attention span, that darn phone is the best — and worst — device ever invented. With it, I am seldom bored, but I am often boorish because of it.

As I think about it this morning, I can’t help but wonder why I do something that can annoy the people who are closer to me than anyone else. And that has me thinking I will sign up for Bored and Brilliant in February. If nothing else, I could use the tips — promised by the challenge organizers — for cutting back on my iPhone dependence.

I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, please don’t send me any more Trivia Crack challenges. The five games in which I am currently involved are too many as it is.