15 Minutes of Entertainment and an Entire Ecosystem of Procrastination

On Sunday morning, Tom made a very serious announcement to his family, using the same tone a president might use before signing an international treaty: “I’m only going to use this entertainment app for fifteen minutes. Just to relax my brain.” His wife looked at the clock and nodded. His son immediately started a timer on his phone. The cat didn’t even bother looking up. The cat had lived with humans long enough to know that they often make beautiful promises right before completely destroying them.

Tom opened the app. A message appeared: “Welcome back! You’ve been away for 3 hours.” Tom felt strangely offended. Apparently, the software remembered him better than some of his relatives.

He chose a simple puzzle game and told himself he would play just one round. He lost the first round because he was “still warming up.” He lost the second because “the mouse was obviously lagging.” Then he won the third. This immediately convinced Tom that his legendary gaming skills had returned, and naturally, one more round was required to scientifically confirm the result.

Thirty minutes later, the app displayed another message: “You’ve been playing for a while. Would you like to take a break?” Tom clicked NO so quickly that his wife later said, “If you reacted that fast when I asked you to wash the dishes, our marriage would be perfect.”

An hour later, his wife walked past and asked: “Are you done relaxing yet?” Without looking away from the screen, Tom replied, “Almost. I’m just finishing the last mission.”

Two hours later, the “last mission” had produced a side mission. The side mission unlocked a daily reward. The daily reward led to a free spin. The free spin unlocked a new character.

At this point, Tom was no longer playing a game. He had accidentally started a second career.

By evening, he finally stood up. His eyes were red. His back sounded like someone stepping on a bag of potato chips. He could barely remember what year it was. Still, he looked extremely satisfied.

“See?” Tom said proudly. “Entertainment software is great for stress. My mind feels completely refreshed.”

His wife stared at him. “What about fixing the leaking faucet, taking out the trash, and taking your son for a haircut?”

Tom went silent for three seconds. Then his face suddenly brightened.

“You know what? I think tomorrow I should install a productivity app.”