Somehow it seems that every opportunity for electronic convenience has a hidden cost. In the days before podcasting, I used to use cassette tapes to record radio programs I wanted to hear. Since I was researching and writing for hours on end, I couldn’t listen to most shows when they were broadcast, but I could pop a tape in when a show started, get back to my studying, and then listen to the tape later, perhaps when doing the dishes or walking the dog.

When the iPod made podcasting possible, I was delighted. I could ditch the pile of over-written tapes strewn around my old boom box; iTunes was able to download the programs I wanted to hear as soon as they became available, keep them organized, and suggest other shows I might want to hear. What could be more convenient? I binged on podcasts, listening whenever possible, even in the shower. Eventually, though, I realized I did not have any time to think my own thoughts. It got so easy to do more and more of what I wanted that I got numb to what I needed.

Lately I tried Clash of Clans and found it’s even more of a time vampire. Not only does its convenience—always at hand in my pocket!—make it constantly tempting; its gameplay design goes beyond tempting to make it almost an obligation. Because the game goes on when I’m not playing, it’s always calling me back. If I’m not checking in and tweaking my defenses, I could get attacked.   If I’m not checking back in to spend the gold that accumulates when I’m offline, some raider will come along and take it. The game is designed to keep me from leaving it aside for a few days. What started as a mildly fun distraction is on its way to becoming a compulsion. Soon I’ll be showing up at Clash Anonymous meetings: “Hello, my name is Paul and I’m a Clashaholic.   It’s been eighteen days since my last upgrade.”

Why make a game that’s such a leech? It’s not as if the designers benefit from my playing a lot. I think. They’re not showing me ads. They’re not charging me for the time. Maybe the addiction has made me paranoid, but I think the whole phone/pod/pad industry has a pervasive drive to keep me plugged in. Maybe nobody thinks of it outright in those terms, but it seems that the more they can crank out activities that draw us into focusing on our devices, the more they can make everybody’s business into their business.