Don't shake the baby: Yet another reason to quit playing Farmville

In the realm of annoying social networking games that clog up your news-feed with nonsense, it would seem that Mafia Wars, the game that encourages you earn points by stockpiling firearms and putting hits out on your virtual friends, would be the more dangerous. Ironically though, it was the cutesy...

By Jef Otte

October 28, 2010

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In the realm of annoying social networking games that clog up your news-feed with nonsense, it would seem that Mafia Wars, the game that encourages you earn points by stockpiling firearms and putting hits out on your virtual friends, would be the more dangerous. Ironically though, it was the cutesy and far more innocuous Farmville that was the first to lead to actual murder. Yesterday, 22-year-old mother Alexandra Tobias pleaded guilty to shaking her three-month-old baby to death in January. Her reasoning? He interrupted her while she was playing Farmville.

During the initial investigation, Tobias told investigators that she became frustrated when at the baby's crying while she was trying to get her Farmville on. In response, she said at the time, she shook him, then smoked a cigarette to calm down, then shook him again. She said he may have hit his head the second time.

Friends, it's a sick, sad world we live in, but it just goes to show you: Stupid social networking games can only lead to rage. Because, for real, if I get one more Farmville update sullying my news-feed queue, I am going to lose it.

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