Why I Don’t Play Games on my iPhone

Games

I posted the above photo on Instagram the other day, and have gotten several questions about it.

The explanation is pretty simple. I don’t play games on my iPhone.[1. I keep Game Center in its own folder to keep my second home screen neat. I do have a few games on my iPad, but when I pick up that device, I have set aside time to spend doing stuff on it.]

I noticed at some point over the last year or so that I used iPhone games to fill little gaps in my day. Instead of writing, reading or just thinking, I would play a game while waiting for an appointment or while on hold for a conference call. Any time I had a few “extra” minutes, I found myself pulling out my phone to play something.

It all started when I read this Steve Jobs quote a while back:

I’m a big believer in boredom. Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity and out of curiosity comes everything.

I know I am my most creative when I have time to just sit, be still and think. For me, iPhone games killed that time.

Boredom isn’t a bad thing. But strangling it with Angry Birds probably is.