Yair Rosenberg at The Atlantic reviews another delightful time-waster from Neal Agarwal (Apple News+):

The name of this monstrosity, which was released earlier this month, is Stimulation Clicker, and it is more than a game. It is a reenactment of the evolution of the internet, a loving parody of its contents, and a pointed commentary on how our online life went wrong. In bringing each element of the web to life and layering them on top of one another, the game ingeniously re-creates the paradox of the modern internet: Individually, the components are enjoyable. But collectively, they are unbearable. When everything on the internet demands attention, paying attention to anything becomes impossible.

At one point I had LoFi beats, a true-crime podcast, rain sounds, a streamer, an exercise guru, and a few more things all vying for my audio attention. I found the cacophony surprisingly soothing: Unable to focus on everything, I ended up focusing on nothing. It became meditative—an unexpected cheat code that disconnected my brain, allowing it to relax in the clamor.

I played for about 15 minutes. That’s 14 minutes more than I expected—or wanted. Eventually, I was generating 8,000 stimulations per second without having to click a thing.

After buying a bunch of stuff, including a full-screen Subway Surfer, one more item appeared. It cost 2,000,000 stimulations and came with a warning that it could not be undone. I bought it.

It was the perfect reward.