Very true from what I have seen. Nobody just starts playing something like Farmville unless someone else has asked them to.
It is kind of sickening to think about how much time is lost to crap like this.
That's rather judgmental re: leisure time. Are you sickened by the time "lost" by people following or playing sports, or reading novels, or watching movies?
I don't play Farmville but I don't know of anyone that argues it's time well spent. Players don't even seem to be having "fun" by any normal definition. At best, it exploits social rewards to make you conform to the game makers' agenda.
Perhaps it's closer to fashion than recreation; where you're on a consumption treadmill that's largely controlled by others. Without the consolation of having nice clothes or looking any better.
I don't think it is really a fun game at all which makes me think how successful a similar game would be if someone got the fun factor right, something like a civ for facebook or something.
Maybe the easiest way to sum it up - I would not be sickened by anything that someone would enjoy telling me about. Tell me about a movie or book you like. Tell me about the the chess game you lost. Tell me about the five miles you ran. But if someone told me they clicked 20,000 times and enjoyed telling me that, I would call bull.
This is actually an excellent test of the quality of a leisure activity and one I'd never considered. "And then, I clicked on the OTHER square, and a pumpkin grew THERE, too!" I just can't picture that.
I've tried to get her to go out in the garden, but no avail!