A Word About Wordle

 Wordle 244 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

How did this simple word game worm its way into our lives and in social media? When I first saw people posting about Wordle, I told myself that I would stay as far away from it as I could without success. Being fascinated with words, language and puzzles and games, I was easily drawn into its daily mystique of an empty board of 6 rows and 5 columns. During breakfast, I ponder what word I am going to use to start my Wordle of the Day. 

 One of my friends posted on Facebook that you can also do the Archived Wordles if you were late to the party as I was. It's become a morning and evening ritual that brings a mix of joy, frustration, curiosity and, according to many articles, is really good for our brain health. There was one extremely challenging Wordle that I let sit for awhile as I went about my day. I saw a "Yield" sign and the next thing I knew, the answer just came to me. When I got home, I entered the letters and they all turned green.

This article in The Washington Post gives a brief overview of the history of Wordle and why it has become our new drug. What Our Brains Do When We Play Wordle was written by a Tufts University psychologist. It's comforting to know that our obsession with Wordle is good for our cognitive health as shared in this article on Healthline.

Wordle seems to be another 'silver lining' of the pandemic. I'm not sure it would be as popular if we were all leading our pre-pandemic lives not having as much time at home or spending as much time connecting with each other on social media. It's a fun way to check in with friends and family. We celebrate each other's triumphs and tribulations. At first blush it may seem trivial, but given how the pandemic had limited our lifestyles, having something novel to experience every morning and being able to share that experience with each other has boosted everyone's mood and brain health. 

In one instance, Wordle saved the life of an 80 year old woman. An 80 year old woman texted her Wordle results to her daughters every day. When they didn't receive the text and she didn't answer her phone, the daughters became quite concerned. They sent a neighbor to check on her.  When her car was there but their mother didn't answer, they knew something was wrong. They called the police where their mother lived and they discovered she was being held hostage by an intruder who was suffering a mental health crisis. 

Of course, as with anything that takes the internet by storm, there are those who criticize the Wordlers, (I think I just made up a new word) and say they don't get it. There are those who are disgruntled by what they perceive the NY Times did to Wordle when it bought the game. There are those who express their anger by revealing the word and you can Google Wordle word of the day and get the answer. 

There are those who swear off Wordle only to be drawn back into its magical vortex. I enjoy when Wordle is trending on Twitter to see people posting the first time they lost the game with their funny memes or conversely the first time they solved the puzzle in two tries. It's often the same word that is the most challenging for most people and if a word that is challenging for me is easy for one of my friends or family members, I celebrate their ingenuity at being able to solve it in two or three tries. Strategies are shared and self-proclaimed geeks try to find an algorithm that will help them solve the puzzle. If I get stuck, I bring out old fashioned paper and pen to play with the letters.

The intention of the creator of Wordle was to provide a distraction for his girlfriend during the pandemic. He has created so much more! I hope that Wordle will become a classic word game and that it keeps its simple once a day formula that brings people together with a five letter wordle of the day.

From my heart to yours,

In health and wellness,

Mary

Be sure to visit my website at https://marymcmanus.com to learn about my journey to health and wellness in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma

Visit the News and Events tab to listen to my inspiring and uplifting interviews

My books to motivate, uplift and inspire you are available on Amazon