With smartphones in the hands of practically every high schooler, there is always the desire to keep yourself occupied by downloading the most popular games and apps. The high score is what kills us. That inner conscience telling us one more try, or you must get better.

Recently I have noticed how addictive these games can get. I too have been caught in the swirl of society. Flappy Bird for instance was all I heard about for about a month before it was pulled from the App Store. Later on, creator Dong Nguyen revealed that students became so addicted they would break their phones out of frustration. People even lost their jobs and stopped talking to their children. Yet, I still see the addictiveness now that the game has left.

Ever ask a friend for one jab at a game? Yet, seven tries later you are asking again, but your friend still keeps on trucking and trying to get a high score. What do you gain anyways? Higher self-esteem? Authority to gloat to your closest friends? Here is a list of the many games I can’t stopping hearing about: Battle Cats, Candy Crush, White Tiles, Flappy Bird, Don’t Touch the Spikes, Clash of Clans, Trivia Crack, and Jetpack Joyride. Why don’t us young teens engage in scrabble or a simple crossword puzzle.

And guess what really gets me. Each individual games has its own language, like when gamers get engaged to talk about the app they sound incomprehensible. Take a look at these sentences from some apps all jumbled up.

My dark elixir storage still has one more hour before my clan bonuses can be collected.

If I can win just five more diamonds than I can upgrade my park to earn more birds.

I finally got the Bahamut Cat from the ultra rare time capsule ticket, so now I need more XP.

Now I know you gamers out there understand some of these sentences, but it sort of shows how much we know. Not socially, but all we know is how to speak when connected to our devices each day. Yes I do play some of these apps myself, but on rare occasions. I am talking about practically every block at school, I am hearing my peers mingling with each other and using this language.

The high score is what stumps me. Personally, I enjoy beating a level and continuing onto a harder stage, although I beg to differ when referring to Harrisonburg High School. The talk is, who can get the highest score? Almost like the popular youngster in a digital world. What ever happened to family time? After coming back from a long and busy weekend you ask your friends what they did, but you get a response of, “Oh I beat the moon in Battle Cats on chapter three.” Then you give them a confused look because it was like your friend spent the weekend cramped up in their room in the dark with not one memorable moment made with his/her’s family.

Have you heard of in-app purchases? These drive me insane. Who would want to enter their debit card into an account to spend your hard-worked money on a minute little game that barely has a positive effect on your life in reality. If there is one thing I have learned in personal finance it’s to not wasting those extra bucks in your pocket on items that could have been used for retirement or your college education.

Once some kids get caught up in a game they could become socially isolated. Focus their time on the game rather than homework, sports, spending times with friends. An uncontrollable obsession that may lead to parental control. It gets to the point where you are calling out your friends’ names three or four times before they respond.

Our first world problems with not getting the high score or completing the next level get in the way of our real values. Family, friends, and relationships with real humans in the real world. Even though our homeland has a reputation of America, the land of the free, the people still lie cooped up in their homes enjoying technology more than their surroundings, so how free can we get?