Admit it. You’ve been addicted to a mobile game at least once. Angry Birds, Words with Friends, Candy Crush Saga, Farmville, and countless other games have all captured our attention at various times, and probably for longer than we’d care to admit. While they were certainly all fun diversions, we probably would have felt a lot better about playing them if they also helped to accomplish something.

Enter Sea Hero Quest. The game tasks you with navigating through a variety of environments in pursuit of different creatures. As it turns out, navigation is among the first skills one loses as a result of dementia. By playing the game, you are contributing data that will help researchers determine what is normal loss and what is caused by this horrible affliction, leading to better diagnoses in the future.

It’s not often that we can engage in something that is not only fun, but has a net benefit for society. As such it’s hard to pass up this free game. Even better, unlike others, it really is free, with nothing to buy to progress further, and no ads cluttering up the experience. It’s a great example of the innovative ways that modern technology is helping us deal with longstanding problems. Wasting time has never felt so productive.