Wordle got me.

“All of psychology, childhood decides” - Unknown

Although I try to be pragmatic most of the time and believe that we are our choices, these words above resonate with me a lot. Here I am, on a Saturday morning, in bed and writing a blog post instead of a hundred other things I could possibly be doing. Before this, I have also planned pretty much what I have to do this weekend and of course finished the #Wordle #224 of the day with a 5/6 score. Yes, all of this before getting out of bed.

[In the background: Live your life- Rihanna]

As Twitter trends tend of catch up with the world pretty fast, recently Wordle has been in this whirlwind. Interestingly not just among a specific community of people but within several that includes everyone between entertainers and scientists. While there is a very nice article in the Harvard Gazette behind the psychology of why Wordle has taken the world by storm, I did a bit of introspection as to why I might be addicted to this game myself.

The earliest memories I could come up with went back to my childhood. My sister and I spent summer vacations with several of my aunts, uncles and grandparents- in their homes, living their usual life with them. During these vacations we watched cartoons and Power Rangers, we also went on many family trips that were refreshing and fun. But what we also did was learning. One of our aunt taught us Hindi (that never stuck with me though). My maternal grandmother was the best. She gave us different activities every day- all of which involved a pen and book. Most of them involved English vocabulary. One that I so vividly remember is that she asked me and my sister to come up with Opposites (Antonyms). Whoever comes up with a maximum number of them would be the winner. My sister and I would be so into it and pen down every antonym we ever knew. This game usually spanned for a few days giving us enough time to think, forget about it and then get back to it again. For someone who hated going to school during early adolescence, I surprisingly enjoyed these activities. I think one of the reasons why it was interesting was also a good competitive spirit with a fellow sibling. We were only between 10 and 12 years old and we could write at least 50 antonyms at that time.

The next incident I remember was perhaps also around the same time when Barbie dolls were a craze. They came in fancy packages, were colorful and attractive and as a consequence also very expensive. After months (or years?) of admiring several versions of these dolls, my sister and I had finally convinced dad to give us 500 INR (quite a lot for early 2000s) to buy a Barbie doll set. Mom took us to the shop and I remember roaming around the aisle that glowed in pink (yes, ALL of these dolls came in versions of pink in pink boxes). Everything after that is a blur and the only thing I remember was we went home with a Scrabble (!). My mom was very clever like that. While I don’t remember being too disappointed, what I do remember is the endless games of Scrabble I have played with family and friends over decades. The Scrabble board and tiles stayed with us for long. The worst part of this was that I really enjoyed it!

I started blogging during the beginning of my days in college and while writing has become scarce over the years, it is something I still enjoy doing. So no wonder I’m addicted to Wordle. It’s probably another timely craze that will end in due time, but as of now, I enjoy it and can’t help but wonder how my childhood may have influenced it.

Wordle 224

My sister and I are proud nerds now. Why wOULD it be any different?

Swetha

29.01.2022