"Welcome to kiddie Vegas," my husband said as we walked through the arcade towards the door. We brought the kids for a game of laser tag. They were sweaty and happy from a hard-fought laser battle, but still their steps slowed and their heads turned longingly towards the game machines. You should have seen how their eyes lit up when their father found two tokens that had been forgotten in the return slot of a machine. Some of the games offer actual fun - throwing a ball to hit little weasles that pop up on the screen, or swiping your hands to cut through fruit. Many, though, are the gateway version of a slot machine. Put in your token and hope it lands in just the right spot to get you a lot of tickets. You want tickets very much so you can choose the best of the cheap, brightly colored toys from behind the big counter.

We laugh about our kids' addiction to the arcade, but we are no less addicted to our own games. How many times has my daughter had to repeat my name until I would look up from my email? She has declared that our tablet has the power to take over people's brains and that her parents are basically useless until we can be convinced to put the thing down. And the sad truth is, most of the messages are minor updates or complete junk, cheap prizes for our brains.

This Friday, Jud Brewer, director of research at UMass Boston's Center for Mindfulness, will offer a Hack Your Mind lunch program titled "Why is Facebook Like Crack Cocaine". He'll share with us techniques and tools to help us step away from our machines. Perhaps we can use our devices instead of letting them use us.