I just saw I've spent over 500 hours on a free mobile game this year

My screen time report popped up and the number genuinely shocked me. It's a puzzle game with microtransactions, and I've never spent a dime, but now I'm wondering if playing that much without supporting the devs is fair. Has anyone else hit a screen time number that made them pause?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wyatt1mo ago

My screen time showed 300 hours on a simple word game. I felt the same guilt about not paying. But then I figured, my time spent in the app is what makes it valuable to other players. A high user count with active players helps the game stay relevant, which is a kind of support. The free players are basically the content for the people who do pay.

anna5781mo ago

Oh, so we're calling ourselves "content" now to feel better about our addictions? I love it. Next time my boss asks why I'm late, I'll say I was busy being valuable user-generated content for a bubble-popping app. My 200 hours on a color-matching game isn't wasted time, it's me providing a vibrant community ecosystem for the three people who bought the no-ads pack. We're not hooked, we're philanthropists.

the_wendy1mo ago

Wait, 300 hours on a word game? That's like... over twelve whole days. I get the logic about free players being the content, but man, that number is wild. I'd have to check my own screen time after hearing that, but I'm kinda scared to look now lol.