Pokemon Go! A generation lost in 1 day....

Today was the launch of a fascinating piece of technology Pokemon Go allows the user to find and catch Pokemon in your realize environment using altered reality on your cellular device's camera....we have lost the attention and working function of nearly 10 people under the age of 30 at my place of employment. They are not focused on working only on the addiction of "gotta catch'em all!"
Don't get me wrong, I am a Pokemon fan...I have been since Junior High School; but there is a time and place for everything. Can we all exercise some common sense and self control with this thing, please? I understand it's cool; but I also understand that there are people who will walk away from their lives and spend the rest of their time walking around looking for animated creatures with a screen in front of their face and a battery pack strapped to their back.

Australian police are already having problems with people walking into the station to "look" for Pokemon....how long until someone gets hit by a car while not paying attention? How many people will unwitting fall into a canyon while not paying attention. The idea frightens me and I am honestly a little disappointed in my generation for so quickly jumping into an altered reality in this way.

Why are we so quick to get away from the here and now?

I will admit that I was anxiously awaiting it's release in the US and did so the second I could. I have spent a great deal of time already playing the game and am, in fact, playing it while bored at work (there's a pokestop I can access from my office). I think that will wear off soon enough that it shouldn't be a major concern to employers.

The people not paying attention is not new with this game. Traffic accidents from distracted driving increase every year, people still drive off bridges if their GPS tells them too, and people die every year trying to take "epic" selfies. As the saying goes, hate the player not the game. It's not Pokemon Go's fault, its just the newest in a long line of these technological distractions.

All we can do is try to stay aware ourselves and help the people near us not get hurt.

As far as why we try to get away, life sometimes sucks. It's nice to get away from the a world with mass shootings, terrorists, doomed Presidential races, zika viruses, racism, cop hating, sexism, rampant obesity, sugar addiction, etc etc etc. Do we need to learn how to deal with the world as opposed to only trying to escape it? Absolutely. But there's nothing wrong with a little escapism now and then.

All the reasons you posted for wanting escapism...this is just one more thing to add to that list...thanks for the reply.

Sooo I have been addicted to video games for a long time. Then I went into stationary therapy and discovered I was in fact not addicted to video games – I could scratch that itch by reading books too, and quite as well at that. And if I did not read I just might listen to music and sing in my head until there was only music left in there.

The ‘grand theme’ of it is, that life seems to have the tendency not to live up to our expectations. Drowning that out through any kind of media is a quite easy way out. Also most of these games are designed to be rewarding, to trigger the parts of our brain that go ‘Yay, progress! I am doing things!’. Progress in the ‘real world’ is a tedious and time consuming thing. Reaching for the easy reward comes naturally too.

Games are good at drowning out our dull and underperforming, possibly unsatisfactory lives.
After a long time with this addiction (and I do believe it to be a real addiction as I suffered a quite unpleasant withdrawal/cold turkey when I stopped) I do understand the price of this and I think it is underestimated. However, most people won’t know as were are led to believe that addictions are either substances or risk behavior (for example gambling). Thus gaming seems to be a harmless way to feel better.

I wish to emphasize it is NOT.

Personaly, I applaud this game. Good on them for creating something that will help get people off their collective Arses and moving around for a change.

Are there some issues? Sure. Just as there is issues with being on a Jedi Forum all day every day without getting out and living it

All things in moderation. I believe there are plenty of people out there that can manage that. Those that can't....have a bigger problem than just Pokemon Go.

Its a game. People will get over it. I, for one, am psyched that it is encouraging people to explore their surroundings.

My kid and I actually walked 7 miles today looking for Pokemon (seriously, I checked the pedometer... 7 miles!) and we actually learned that our town has several neat little monuments we didn't know about. For instance, we found a schoolhouse that was used by kids who escaped on the underground railroad! Neat! We're going to my workplace after dark tonight to see what we can turn up there, since our unlit streets are too dangerous for exploring after dark, and we've been planning a zoo trip for weeks now in anticipation of this game.

I agree with Trisskar. This will do go things for those people (me) who need a reason to leave the house, and those with addictions to technology will always have that tendency, you know? They aren't going to stop because you take this away, they'll just replace it with something else. I agree that TotJO can be just as addicting (I am guilty of hitting the refresh button all day sometimes in my darker moods... and if it wasn't this, it'd be something else). You have to discipline yourself and know when to stop and walk away for a while. For those that can't make that call, it's going to be rough... but it's like deciding to take sugary soda off of the market because people are overweight. You can't shelter people from freedom like that... let them make their own choices!

Slightly off topic, but I think it might have helped a little to not release it on a Thursday. Give people a Saturday to play with the thing at home and get it out of their system! I'm glad I was off today and could afford to goof around with it, but for folks that have grown up with that world that can't, it stinks.

We did have a cop pull up beside us in a public park today to ask us what we were doing, standing there talking excitedly while staring at our phones before 8am. We told him we were playing Pokemon Go and that they were everywhere in the park, and he laughed and rolled his eyes, then drove away. I wondered what would have happened were we dressed differently, of another race, etc.

Snowy Aftermath wrote: My kid and I actually walked 7 miles today looking for Pokemon (seriously, I checked the pedometer... 7 miles!)

Wow!! That is so amazing!!! Good job Snowy!!! What a great way to get out, exercise and better yet! Do it with your kid!

I wondered what would have happened were we dressed differently, of another race, etc.

I truly doubt it would have played out any different. Truly.

My phone is not compatible with the current release, however my fiance has downloaded the app and has already caught a few Pokemon. One of the biggest problems I have with this game is that while it is targeted towards younger audiences, it openly encourages in app purchases which I believe will lead to more rampant credit card theft / immature spending using parents financial accounts.

I think it's great that the app encourages open exploration however, which is something I feel has been discouraged at an alarming rate in recent years. Most of my youth was spent outside, exploring my local environment and getting first hand lessons on the flora and fauna in the area. This is something that follows somewhat of a track record for Niantic (the development company) who also has a capture the flag style game called ingress, and a historical tour app called field trip.

It does however continue an alarming trend of encouraging electronic addiction in children and adolescents, the majority of whom now prefer to play and communicate through virtual means as opposed to direct contact which helps to develop and improve social skills. While Pokemon GO will encourage them to spend more time outside, most of it will be spent staring through a modified electronic representation of their surroundings.

It gets kids out of the house and on their feet, which can't be said of most other games, phone or otherwise. I know nothing of the game except that it encourages kids to get out. We need more of that. I doubt, in terms of being inherently damaging to children, it is any worse than all of those other video games out there.

Why not have a sensationalist panic about how people of all generations are constantly glued to their phone screens, texting/using WhatsApp/updating their Twitter/etc., using that as a substitute for "real" human interaction? Or the kids who spend all their free time sitting at a computer or game console playing video games, indoors? That seems more "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!"-worthy in my book.