I Was Completely Wrong About Being Completely Wrong About Pokemon GO

I thought I could handle it. I thought I could be a normal person, like everyone else, and play a game normally. I thought I could balance it out with the rest of my life.

But I couldn’t.

I know I literally just wrote this article on why Pokémon GO was the best thing ever two days ago and how I was totally wrong about it. I know I said it was great that it got me out of the house, and that I exercised more because of it, and that I even met new people. I haven’t played video games in almost a year until Pokémon GO, and I thought that this was the game that would change everything.

But the truth is, is that it’s still just a game. And like every other game out there, it’s a time sink. Maybe most people can balance it out (not that it seems that way, if you look at FaceBook and Twitter lately, I mean, have you even seen how populated it is with PoGO status updates?!), but I can’t. I’m annoyed with how many updates there are concerning the game, and hell, I was playing it!

I haven’t read the novel I’ve been reading since it came out. I haven’t updated my Goodreads account since it came out. I am just now catching up on my novel today and yesterday, and that took a lot more effort than it normally does. And as far as getting out of the house, exercising, and meeting new people? Well, it shouldn’t take a fucking video game for me to do those things.

Yeah, it was great getting out of the house and going to the park. But I don’t need to spend hours at the park staring at my phone. That’s not really “getting outdoors”. That’s “getting outdoors to play Pokémon GO”. And honestly, it’s a little sad, seeing so many people outdoors all glued to their phones. It’s like seeing a bunch of drunks outside a bar walking around in a stupor.

The harsh truth, which I don’t want to admit, is that video games are only going to get more advanced and better and more involved with our daily lives over time. And Pokémon GO is just the start of it. Augmented reality is just the tip of the iceberg. While I was at “training” at the park the other day, I was walking by a couple that I literally overheard saying, “Now we just need this on Google Glasses and we’ll be set.” Can you imagine? People running around with Google Glasses on all the time, catching Pokémon 24/7? The Pokémon GO wrist straps haven’t even come out yet, jesus christ. And what happens when everyone has caught all 151 Pokémon? What happens then?

I wanted to like Pokémon GO. I tried, really. I thought it would be different than other games, but in actuality, if you want to truly develop yourself as a person and pursue your dreams, playing video games won’t help that. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. Instead of gaming, you could be working on yourself, on getting more money, on learning a language, on, well, fuck, anything.

I know I know I know, I know what you’re thinking, why am I so hellbent on self-development? Because that’s the only thing that fucking matters. When I’m dead, I don’t want to be remembered for how many Pokémon I caught. When I’m dead, I don’t want to be remembered for the first guy that caught a virtual Mew on an iPhone. I don’t want to be remembered for the guy that started the biggest FaceBook group for one of the three teams on Pokémon GO. None of that shit matters. My books matter. When I’m dead, all that’s left of me will be my novels, and this blog, that you’re reading, right now. My iPhone? My Pokémon? They’ll be thrown into a recycling bin somewhere and turned in and out for parts and used to make another phone for someone else out there that’s actually alive. But these words will still be here. The novels that I write, will still be here.

Go to the park and stop looking at your phone flicking Pokéballs with your finger at imaginary pixels that take the form of imaginary creatures. Yes, it gets you outdoors, and that’s great, but life is so much more beautiful when you’re actually looking at it outside a camera.

I promise.