Bubble Shooter is a game that has captivated students all over Oxford High School, but it can be dangerous.

To play the game, you shoot colored bubbles at other bubbles of the same color.  If you hit a group of two or more bubbles of that same color, the entire group disappears.  If you miss, more bubbles are added.  To win the game, you must clear all of the bubbles.

As simple as the game may sound, it can be addictive.

It seems harmless at first.  You’re in class, and you’re pretty bored, and you see your friends playing the game.  You know it’s dangerous but you tell yourself, “It’s just a game.”  And then you open up the tab and start to play.

It is harder than it looks, which frustrates you enough to a point where you want to quit, but you decide instead you can’t give up, you must beat it.

“I didn’t start playing until last period, but now I’m addicted,” said sophomore Lily Mitchell.

So you play more.  Suddenly you look up and class is already over.  You missed the teacher’s entire lecture, but you figure it wasn’t important anyway.  Plus, all of your friends are doing it.  It can’t be that bad.

So you start playing it every time you have extra time in class.  And then you start playing it in every class, obsessed with winning.  Each time you finish a game, whether or not you win or lose, you immediately start another.  It’s a cycle that never stops.

“Bubble Shooter is a highly-addictive waste of time.  It’s distracting, but I can’t make myself stop playing,” said senior McClellan Davis.

You completely stop paying attention in class and devote all of your time in school to Bubble Shooter.  Your test grades start going down.  Your parents start to worry.  You tell them you’re fine.  It’s just a game to pass the time at school.

But it’s not even you playing the game; you’re on autopilot, you’re just shooting bubbles, and shooting bubbles without even really thinking about it.  You have lost yourself.

And then it happens.  You’re at home, and you realize you have a paper due; so you open up your school computer to start working on it, and there it is.  Bubble Shooter.  Out of habit, you immediately start to play it.  Two hours later you look up and realize you’ve actually spent hours of your free time to playing Bubble Shooter.  You realize you have a problem.

Luckily, you can avoid this downward spiral.  Just abstain from Bubble Shooter or play responsibly.