Text message responses are becoming delayed, leaving significant others feeling angry and unloved. People who may not have exercised in a while are now jogging around town with another goal in mind than to become fit. A Wyoming teen’s fun adventure was cut short due to the discovery of a dead body. And young adults are becoming even more distracted by their handheld devices which are resulting in them obtaining injuries. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, then becoming a gym leader was probably not one of your childhood dreams. Yes, I am talking about the craze that has gotten social media all worked up—catching Pokémon with the new Pokémon Go app.

www.pokemon.com

As hilarious memes began to fill my social media news feeds, and posts of friends going about their day while trying to capture these critters in peculiar places, I too decided to see what the fuss was all about. I deleted some lame apps on my crappy phone (I can learn a new language some other time) in order to make room for the new adventures that awaited me, and installed the Pokémon Go app from the Google play app store—it’s free!

After I made my character with the small amount of customization that is currently available, I went off to hunt—or so I thought. Sadly, the server was down (this appears to be happening quite frequently) which left me having to try again later.

originally posted from Leecario's tumblr


Image from Maverick Ishdar's Facebook page

After a period of time that felt like hours, I gave it another go. Once the screen finished loading, I was now on a screen with a map/GPS view of my current surroundings, and around me were starter pokémon. I went on to capture a Squirtle by throwing a pokéball at it. A few minutes later, I journeyed downstairs within my house, and captured a bunch of Rattatas (rat-like pokémon) and Spearows (bird-like pokémon). Within two days of playing, I had captured many of these two specific pokémon which appear to have made themselves feel at home around my location. But Seeing as I haven’t been able to play this as much as I would like to, I have yet to experience a battle or visit the Pokéstop which happens to be a statue (whose existence I did not know of until now) located near a hazmat service facility not too far from house (I did not know this facility was nearby either). Needless to say, I have YET to venture to this Pokéstop, but I probably will in due time.

Screenshots from my game play

Overall, I had a pretty good time playing Pokémon Go, and I believe that future updates will make this game even more desirable. Although some people are getting a few cuts and bruises due to not paying attention to their surroundings, and those in relationships are becoming a bit suspicious of their significant others leaving the house at 12 a.m. to wander the streets in search of night pokémon, it is something that can help take your mind away from these tragic events that have currently plagued our nation, for some well needed self-care. “Pikachu I choose you!”