I guess I was spending too much time in close proximity to others. I’m pretty sure I got it six weeks ago from my sister-in-law Rona Birnbaum while we were visiting. Rona had been living with it for about a week, checking the updates every day. Monitoring her progress. You only had to listen to her speak for a moment to see that she had been infected…and now I was too.
(Did you get COVID?)
No, Wordle.
(Is that a disease?)
Depends on who you ask. Wordle is a daily word puzzle where you try to uncover the identity of the daily word by guessing letters.
(Like Wheel of Fortune?)
Yes, like Wheel of Fortune for your phone.
(Is it an app?)
No, and that’s what makes this game different. You go to their website and see if you can guess the word in six tries or less.
(So, it’s a time vampire like Candy Crush or Flappy Bird?)
A what?
(Time quicksand. Something that burns time like the commercials you have to sit through while you wait for your YouTube video to start)
No, there’s only one puzzle per day. That’s it.
(You can’t level up or earn more lives like a video game?)
No, but the game does keep track of your winning streak. This will be a problem when we get to the two day Yom Tov of Passover.
(Who cares?)
That’s the issue and it is playing out on Facebook.
(Where Boomers socialize.)
Now, why did you say that?
(Because old people use Facebook. Teenagers are on Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.)
I’m on Instagram.
(OK Boomer.)
There seemed to be two opinions on Facebook about Wordle:
To share or not to share, your daily score.
(Why is this an issue?)
The anti-share group is tired of seeing how many tries the others needed to solve the puzzle or how long they have been solving the puzzle for.
The share group has said, “You don’t want to see my score? Don’t look. No one is forcing you.”
(This is beginning to sound like Dr. Suess’s book “The Sneetches and Other Stories.”)
I was a sociology major in college.
(People watcher.)
Sociologist.
(Professional people watcher.)
So, I look at people’s behaviors to identify trends.
(Stalker.)
You could say that Facebook is made up of three types of members:
1. Daily poster
2. Occasional posters
3. Watchers
(So, people who tell you everything they did. People who tell you when their kid had a birthday and stalkers?)
Why are you so negative?
(I haven’t had my coffee yet.)
Grab a cup while I explain my point. I see the value in all people.
(Of course, you do.)
Do us all a favor and grab a second cup of coffee.
One of the nice things about Wordle is it has provided a reason for the Watchers to post.
I have almost 1,000 Facebook friends, but the most I have ever heard from on a single post was about 200 people. Naturally, I started to wonder, “Did 800 people friend me just so they could add me to their collection?”
It turned out that some people just like to watch what I post.
(So, now you are the “Truman Show?”)
Nah, I just post things that I hope make people smile.
And if my daily Wordle score isn’t one of them, I will just keep that to myself.
David Roher is a USAT certified triathlon and marathon coach. He is a multi-Ironman finisher and veteran special education teacher. He is on Instagram @David Roher140.6.
He can be reached at [email protected]
