Quick question:
What makes you want to open up your phone and play Pokemon Go?
What’s the big attraction for you?
I ask because this past week my adult daughter practically leapt from the car as we parked at WalMart and immediately opened her iPhone. Silly me, I assumed she was texting, but when she let out a squeal of delight and exclaimed, “Gotcha!” I knew something entirely different than a Whatsapp message was going on.
Forgive me if I’m a little late to the party, but after my daughter’s Reader’s Digest condensed version of what Pokemon Go is, and what fun it is to play, we headed for the store—me amazed and watching for SUVs headed our way—my daughter fully focused on her iPhone intent on capturing a wild Charmeleon.
If you don’t already know—Pokemon Go is an a free-to-play mobile app that you download and then play on your iPhone or Android. The game works by using your phone’s GPS. As you walk around outdoors, Pokemons—little animated creatures—will appear on your phone which you then try and capture.
One small problem: Not everyone is skilled at multitasking. Walking, watching your iPhone screen and using the buttons on your phone to capture a Pokemon can be a bit of a challenge for the less agile and ambidextrous among us. Kids have already walked of cliffs, fallen into ditches, been hit by cars, stumbled into restricted areas and caused highway pileups playing the game.
And there’s another problem. A BIG problem!
When the above question of Pokemon Go’s allure was posed in an on-line newsletter called Hacker, the responses given were, to say the least, unsettling:
- A teenage girl answered: “It’s the walking around. Very good motivation, plus draws me to places I might not have gone.”
- A teenage male answered: I used a lure at the local park and cars pulled up and stopped, people came out from their houses and all met at the PokeStop. It’s so crazy.
- Another response was: “Meeting other trainers, unexpectedly. I had blast today meeting tons of other trainers of all ages comparing experiences.”
Hello! Does anyone else hear the Pervert! Pervert! Alarm going off?
If the above isn’t send up a sea of red flags, check out this interview with Play4Real and the creator of Pokemon who admits the games are anti-Christian and aimed towards Satanists. http://bit.ly/2acI16i
The Solution: Another free download
Zenly Locator
Zenly uses your phones GPS to privately let the members of your personal group know where you are. It is a great way to be in constant, virtual contact with loved ones. A friend of mine recently used Zenly to stay close with her daughter during the last weeks of her pregnancy. Here’s an article by Techvise with even more info. http://bit.ly/2a6NoGo
People are pretty much 50:50 over Pokemon being a good thing or a game ripe with the potential to go terribly awry.
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