To lovers and haters of Pokemon Go: Here’s why it’s what the world needed
Times are tough. Politics ringing through the media we consume each day, violence and unrest at a point higher than we’ve known in years, global distress and crises affecting countless children and families. We’re in a time when we’re so aware of what’s happening, that a person who may have never cared to watch the news or read the media now has barely an escape.
And then Pokemon Go launched.
It seems as though this game has eliminated these distractions — and with it the stress and anxiety caused by being so aware of all the unhappiness and fear and awful, awful things going on in the world. Pokemon Go has permitted tens of millions of people to be online, yet immersed in a community that doesn’t immediately remind them of the bad stuff —the opposite of what “being online” tends to do.
Ironically, for the first time in a long time, it seems as though a screen is being used to promote connection —that real live conversations are being had and friendships are being formed and kind strangers are emerging — in ways like never before.
Ironically, a screen is responsible for taking people outside, into parks often unused and barren, and out for long walks and bicycle rides through streets they’d never once before been on, discovering new places and untouched corners — people who may otherwise be sitting inside on their couches to scroll passively through feeds and watch another episode of their latest series.
Pokemon Go is making a world that seems so unhappy happier. It’s making a global community that often seems so separated together.
This is what the players are saying. And I believe it.
But I’m not a Pokemon Go player — far from it. Much of my time is spent researching humanity’s relationship with technology, particularly their smartphones, and writing and speaking about how to find balance. Walking through Central Park last week, I noticed so many faces buried in their screens and, unaware that it was because of Pokemon Go, I was judgemental. I was annoyed. I thought it was crazy how, on such a beautiful day in such a beautiful city, people were staring at their phones.
But after spending time learning about the game, and reading deeply into its community support, I’ve changed my mind. I understand how positive the game can be, how happy it’s made people.
Yet I just can’t stop wondering, Why now?
The times are tough. So tough that it’s never been more important for people to come together and form real connections and have meaningful conversations with one another. So tough and deeply troubling, yet always within our line of vision, that it can truly feel impossible to escape.
But not if you chose to unplug from it all. If you decided to unplug and read a book. If you decided to go offline and play some cards with your partner. To get your friends together for a game of charades. To go off for a walk through the woods. To ride a bicycle until you find a quiet spot to sit.
If Pokemon Go can make people happy and nice to each other and active, I have nothing wrong with it. But why is Pokemon Go epitomized as the only good excuse to be happy and nice to each other and active? As the only escape?
I have spent the better part of the past week looking for the common justification of playing Pokemon Go: it isn’t simply because it’s fun, or because it’s addictive (unlike most mobile gaming phenomenons that have taken the world over in recent years).
The reason players have justified playing this game in record-breaking capacity is because it gets them outside and meeting people. Here’s one player’s thoughtful comment after this article criticized the app as a giant waste of time and money:
The truth of the matter is that this game is getting more and more kids to go outside and spend time walking around, rather than sitting with their butts on a couch. It has helped me to be more active; I’m now out walking multiple times a day whereas in the past, I just didn’t have the motivation. It is also connecting people. I have met multiple people playing the game and had meaningful conversations with them, ones that I wouldn’t have had without the conversation starter that is Pokemon Go. Most of all, it makes people happy and nostalgic. What exactly is so wrong with that?
There are many, many other comments like this one. And they really make the game sound wonderful. A game — played on a smartphone, no less — that takes people “off of their butts” to go outside and to be nice to other people. There is indeed nothing wrong with that.
But I can’t help wonder, Why can’t we always be that way?
I’ve read others argue that Pokemon Go helps those with social anxieties break from their shells — that it’s made it much easier for them to meet new people and make new friends. This is groundbreaking.
But what if everyone was just that friendly always? What if nobody passed judgement on your interests or quirks, and that you could just be yourself?
I think what Pokemon Go has really done is expose a humanity that is dying to be connected in ways that social media and the digital world has failed us. People want real connections — to meet people IRL and to make friends and to be happy. We don’t want to sit around all day craving the validation of others through selfies and snaps and updates; we want to go for a walk and to say hello to each other and act like kids sometimes.
But we also want a good reason to — or, as that one player said, “the motivation.”
So here’s the motivation (of which the game has simply reminded you): Be active because it’s good for you. Go outside because it will make you feel happier. Be nice to others because they will be nice back and that, too, will make you feel happier. Have meaningful conversations with your friends because they value your opinion. Embrace your nostalgia and act like a kid because life is too short not to.
I think what Pokemon Go has really done is exposed a humanity that is dying to be connected in ways that social media and the digital world has failed us.
What I’ve learned is that Pokemon Go has reminded people that humans can and want be kind to others. That we want to make real friends and have meaningful connections with each other. That we would rather our technology be used to have fun and to be happy than for collecting likes and followers or promoting hate and negativity.
Pokemon Go has reminded people that stepping outside opens us up to our amazing world — a place that, despite all of the awful, awful things going on within it, there can be wonder and beauty and peace.
It’s reminded people that, if you’re unhappy, do something about it.
The point is that these sentiments earned from Pokemon Go shouldn’t end with this one game. While it may be the best motivation many have had in a long time to go for a walk or to be kind to strangers, a much better and more lasting motivation is because life is too fucking short not to.
So enjoy the game now, but don’t forget to be happy and nice to each other and active when you’re done.
Thanks for reading! Please recommend so more can enjoy it too.
I write and speak about tech-life balance in this blog. I also co-founded Flipd, where we develop technology products that, not unlike Pokemon Go, help you “get off your butt”.
