More Like PokeMon Stop: Am I Right
Look, I'm not going to lie, I definitely have Pokemon Go on my phone, and legitimately enjoy it for what it is. I really enjoy walking around Amsterdam with my brothers and friends who have it. Yet, I don't know the last time I've felt so in love with something while being absolutely horrified at the same time.
So it's no secret that Pokemon Go has really taken off and is the new hot thing for all kids are doing right now. There are definitely a lot of upsides to this new Pokemon installment. It gets people out of their houses, it's got them walking around, they're actually interacting with other people for the brief moments that they aren't looking at their phones. That's all great, but the fact that I've seen co-workers walking the halls looking for Pokemon has me a little concerned.
If for some reason you don't know what Pokemon Go is already, let me explain this real quick. It's just like any other Pokemon game, except instead of being on a typical handheld system, it's on your phone, and instead of it taking place in a fictional world, it's set in your GPS and takes place wherever you happen to live. So if you look out your window and see a group of people walking around with their faces in their phones, they're currently on a Pokemon journey.
As you can imagine, since this all takes place on your phone, there have already been plenty of stories about people having some...accidents because of it. One story in particular about a kid in Long Island who fell off his skateboard because he was riding around with his face in his phone until he a hit a crack in the sidewalk which caused a brief set back in his Pokemon journey. Just like most things that involve your phone, you don't want to have your face buried in it while you're doing other things. I'm not even going to sit here and pretend like I'm better than anyone. Just yesterday I came way to close to walking straight into a tree because I wasn't watching where I was walking. So this kind of stuff can literally happen to anyone if they're not careful.
Even worse, because the game is layered into your GPS, other people can lay down markers on the map that people will want to go visit. Unfortunately, this can be used for very evil means, like robbing people at gunpoint...this is not hypothetical, this actually happened. Apparently robbers in Missouri used Pokemon Go to lure eleven people into a secluded area and robbed them at gunpoint. That is terrifying.
Look, I'm not trying to say you shouldn't play it. I'm just saying, stay safe. Don't walk out into the street without looking because there's a Mankey in the road. Don't ride your skateboard or drive while looking for Pokemon. Don't call out from work to catch a Beedrill. Don't stray from the beaten path, stay on the roads you know.
It's a Pokemon journey, it's supposed to be fun, so stay safe.