The power of Wordle

At the start of 2022, the world changed just a little bit. Suddenly, everyone was playing Wordle. When I opened Twitter in the morning, all I saw was little yellow and green squares. What was this thing?! Where was the chat, the news, the information? All I saw on Twitter were these damn squares.

Then Wordle was followed by lots of other games about music and places around the world. And everyone shared them on Twitter every single morning.

Everyone except me, of course. I didn’t exactly know what Wordle was, but I feared it would be something I could get addicted to. Something else to waste my very limited time. So I didn’t play.

But it turns out it wasn’t just people on Twitter that played. My own kids played it sometimes. My sister played it. Even my parents played it!

Fast forward to last September and the yellow and green squares weren’t over Twitter quite so much. People had given up Heardle and all those similar games. But my parents were still playing Wordle. My son went to university. My parents liked to message him about Wordle. So, where he’d dipped in and out before, he played every day. Just so he could message my parents about it. Or they could message him. They all liked that connection.

For me, I missed my son desperately. It was a really hard time for me. He would message me most days about random things. If I didn’t hear from him for a day or two, I would try to think of an excuse to message him. Something to ask him or tell him. He didn’t want me to message him just to say ‘Hi! How are you?’. That’s not how he works, so I had to work with him. To find something interesting to message him, just to keep that connection.

Earlier this year, my husband suddenly started playing Wordle. Why had he bothered so late? But now he had a reason to message my son every day. Suddenly his phone was full of Wordle screenshots. They would message each other their scores for the day. Then, when they’d both completed it, they would send each other a screenshot of their workings, rather than the yellow and green squares people share on Twitter.

My husband started to talk to me about Wordle and show me what he’d done. Occasionally he’d even ask for my help with it. Finally, I really understood those green and yellow squares. Before that, I’d only had a vague idea.

And so the inevitable happened. Late to every party, I caved in and did my first Wordle on 10th June. We were away for my husband’s 50th birthday weekend and everyone was doing it. I thought I would be good at it. I write for a living (not my blog, I’m a freelance journalist and copywriter). I read a lot. I know loads of words.

But, oh my goodness, it was hard! How did my parents manage it every day? How did anyone manage it?

It took me about 20 minutes. My son sat patiently with me, saying things like ‘What could go after that letter?’. And eventually I got it. The word was ‘again’, which is quite a hard word due to all the vowels. I got it in five. The next day was just as awful. Another 20 minutes of stress and I got it in five again. I wasn’t sure I would do it again.

But I’ve done it every day since. Even on my fourth or fifth day, when I realised I hadn’t done it at 10:30pm. My husband was already asleep and I sat there and sweated blood over the damn Wordle.

And then it just slotted into place. I was thinking up words much more quickly. I was seeing the way words and letters fit together. Some days I could do it in a minute. I still had bad days. But on my bad days it would take me 10 minutes rather than 20. Sometimes I would use letters I already knew weren’t in the word without realising it.

I usually get it in four. I’m generally slightly better at it than my sister and as good as my husband. But my son usually gets it in three to my four or four to my five. For a scientist who doesn’t read, he has a remarkable vocabulary.

More than 18 months late to the party, I’ve become the person who shares  green and yellow squares on Twitter every morning (and Threads too). I message my sister my results every day (and I’m always careful not to look if she messages me first, I can’t be accused of cheating!).

And the best thing about it? I have a reason to message my son every day. He will often message me first. I no longer have to try to think of a reason to get in touch with him. That is the real power of Wordle. It is the community, the shared experience for thousands of people sat at home on their own phones.

As my husband said: “The best things in life are free – Fantasy Football League, parkrun and Wordle”. I would certainly be inclined to agree with him for two of them. Three simple pleasures in an otherwise busy life.