But time-consuming narcissism is a good thing (TIME, Mashable, Foursquare, and Farmville)

TIME magazine has created a list of the 50 worst inventions, using the following criteria:

From the zany to the dangerous to the just plain dumb, here is TIME's list (in no particular order) of some of the world's bright ideas that just didn't work out

The full list includes items that appear to meet TIME's criteria, such as New Coke, but others on the list seem to have worked out just fine. Perhaps I should talk about Auto-Tune on my Empoprise-MU music blog, but in this post I'm going to limit myself to the two inventions that Mashable discussed.

Foursquare...made the list for promoting narcissism. Time.com’s Kristi Oloffson acknowledges its potential for being useful with coupons, such as Starbucks’s recent promotion for its mayors, but dismisses it as “another layer onto a generation living virtually.”

Farmville made the list for being a time-suck and an addicting game that Dan Fletcher says is “hardly even a game,” but instead a “series of mindless chores.” He’s quick to point out that the game has captivated the interest of millions.

If you want to see TIME's full reviews of these inventions, go here for Foursquare and here for Farmville.

While I acknowledge that Foursquare is narcissistic and Farmville is a time sink, I noted in a Mashable comment that there is a product that is both narcissistic and time-consuming that TIME wouldn't even think of putting on its list.

The iPod.

For products, narcissism and time-wasting are actually GOOD things, and even if the activities seem silly, you can't deny that they can become important to people.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to return to my Starfleet Commander game.