The Twenties. Mind Games.

When did everyone suddenly start playing mind games with one another? I'm sitting at lunch with my friend who is talking about this amazing guy she met this past weekend and went on a date with. She's smiling from ear to ear going on and on about how incredibly good looking and intelligent he is and just when she's just about finished with the story her phone rings. She looks down at her phone and her eyes completely light up, "it's him", she says. Of course, I tell her to pick up because that's what you normally do when your awaiting some one's call but to my surprise she hits the decline button. I then ask why she declined the call and she tells me I don't want him to think I'm just sitting around waiting for his call. She then says, and I quote, "I have to play hard to get. Now that I know he's thinking about me I'll wait a few days to call him, it'll make him want me more." What surprised me is that she said this so naturally as if reciting her A,B,C's. I've always heard about men and women playing mind games but I didn't know we became so comfortable with this that we can actually admit it aloud. I then turned to my friends for their thoughts on the topic and after much debate they all concluded that at one point in time they all played some sort of mind game with someone they were involved with.
Now, I took a couple of psychology classes and last time I checked the term mind game was associated with passive aggressive behavior, covert abuse and manipulation. Now when I told my friends this they all started using the phrase "it's just an innocent mind game". If you ask me, the words innocent and mind game does not belong in the same sentence. As far as I can tell, mind games does not make us anymore desirable it just makes us look crazy. It's hard enough on men just to understand us women, so pardon me if I don't play mind games. I just don't have the time for it and it seems like unnecessary work. As far as my friend goes, once he didn't hear back from her in two days he assumed she didn't enjoy the date. He went on a date with another female and began to seriously date her two weeks later. A mind game is exactly what is sounds like, a game. There can only be one winner. I laugh now every time I see that pop up at the end of a video game. "You lost. Play again?"