After spending a weekend with my little cousins, I felt the obligation to download the new “Pokémon Go” app. My brother and I were never really into Pokémon when we were younger, so I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect from the app. All I know, after having the app for 24 hours, is this: I truly understand why people are obsessed.
Pokémon GO is a truly revolutionizing game. For anyone who doesn’t know, Pokémon GO is an app that sends people to search for little figures known as “Pokémon” but in our own day-to-day world. It integrates the real world with a fantasy world, all on the screen of your iPhone. Instead of the past hyped-up apps, such as Temple Run, which you can play sitting down practically anywhere, Pokémon GO introduces a new alternative. Now, players have to get up and walk around as much as they can to find Pokémon. People actually need to get up off their couches and go exploring.
The craze of the app is literally taking over people’s lives. There is not one news station that is not talking about it. I had one friend tell me that he spent his entire day driving around with his friend to catch Pokémon. My dad, who works in New York City, said that people are literally walking right into each other as they walk because they are too busy looking down at their phones to find Pokémon. Then there was me, who was walking around my supermarket and dentist office to go searching. Needless to say, my dentist thought I was crazy.
So there may be some dangers of the app, such as the lack of attention people are giving to ordinary tasks (like walking). But there are also really cool benefits of it. I heard the story that a man who never exercises actually went bike riding all over his neighborhood to find Pokémon. Another guy got a date because a girl approached him when she saw he was playing Pokémon too. But one benefit is for sure: the app is connecting us all. It is an obsession that will surely die down, but for now, let’s just enjoy the fact that we are all having a little fun being seven-year-olds again.
