When I was finally old enough to play outside, my Mom would say, “look both ways before crossing the street, and watch where you’re going.” I just assumed everyone’s mother served up that same kind of sage advice, but I’ve since come to learn different. Today it seems like common sense is a scarce commodity, and nowhere is that more evident than in how we use so-called mobile devices.
It used to be that cell phones had one purpose. They allowed us to place and receive calls. It wasn’t long, though, before everyone was using their cell phones to text instead of talk. The logic of this phenomena still escapes me. If I want to tell someone something, I CALL them on my cell phone. It’s fast, it’s convenient, and there’s no chance that my message will be misinterpreted by typos or bad grammar. On the flip side, proponents of texting say that if the person you wish to speak with is in a meeting and can’t take your call, they can still communicate via text. But if you’re in a meeting, chances are someone is paying you to be there, so you shouldn’t be texting. You should be focused solely on that meeting, and on doing the job you’re being paid to do. Remember, multi tasking is not necessarily a badge of honor. Mostly it’s just rude behavior.
In addition to fostering rudeness, texting also causes accidents, some minor, some fatal. I can’t tell you how many times a text-head has walked right into me because he never looked up to see where he was going. And nearly every week, we hear of a car crash that was caused by someone who was texting while driving. Let’s face it, people with mobile devices often endanger themselves and those around them. Unfortunately, texting while walking or driving is no longer the worst of our worries.
Last month, careless behavior reached new heights with the advent of Pokemon-Go, an augmented reality game based on the 1990s cartoon, which can now be downloaded onto most mobile devices. The point of the game is to hunt animated monsters. However, Pokemon players have become so obsessed and focused on the game, that they are not watching where they’re going. For example, a 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl was recently hit by a car while crossing the street. She was playing Pokemon Go, instead of paying attention to traffic. Meanwhile, a Baltimore man was engaged in the game while driving, and he slammed into the back of a police car. And in North San Diego County, two men fell off of a 75-foot cliff because Pokemania had them looking into their mobile devices instead of straight ahead. These Pokemorons are also finding themselves victims of other kinds of related mishaps. In O’Fallon Missouri, four teenagers used the game to lure a dozen other Pokemon players into a remote area, where the clueless gamers were robbed. Sgt. Bill Stringer explained the scheme. “Using the geo location feature of the Pokemon Go app, the robbers were able to anticipate the location of unwitting victims.” Sadly, these are not isolated incidents.
I keep coming back to Mom’s warning, “Look both ways before crossing the street, and watch where you’re going.” It’s the kind of advice that keeps you from bumping into cars, walking into traffic, falling off cliffs, and being lured into alley ways. Of course there are Pokemon Go apologists who say that the positives of hunting digital monsters far outweigh the negatives. For one thing, they say playing the game gets kids out of the house, and that helps to reduce our obesity epidemic. I say all they’re doing is shifting the fat from their bellies to their heads.
Sure I know that not all Pokemon Goers are irresponsible, but injuries and incidents will continue to increase exponentially, and that should concern parents. According to Fortune.com, the game was downloaded ten million times in its first week, and is now on more Android phones than the highly successful dating site Tinder. That means some people would rather chase cartoon characters into moving traffic than have social interaction with a member of the opposite sex. Moreover, many Pokemorons are obsessed with the game even when they’re not even playing it. Evidence of that occurred two weeks ago during a press conference at the State Department. While briefing members of the fourth estate about the escalating threat of ISIS, State Department spokesperson John Kirby was distracted by a reporter who was doing something with his mobile device instead of taking notes. “You’re playing the Pokemon thing right there, aren’t you?” asked Kirby. “I’m just keeping an
eye on it”, replied the reporter.
I think Greensboro Police Officer Ben Wingfield said it best when he told a local TV station, “When you’re involved in a game and not paying attention to what’s going on around you, your situational awareness can go down.” Translation? If you’re chasing cartoon characters and fail to look both ways and watch where you’re going, then you are by definition a Pokemoron. It’s just too bad there’s not an App for common sense.
August 2, 2016 @ 11:32 pm
We’re Becoming a Nation of Pokemorons
When I was finally old enough to play outside, my Mom would say, “look both ways before crossing the street, and watch where you’re going.” I just assumed everyone’s mother served up that same kind of sage advice, but I’ve since come to learn different. Today it seems like common sense is a scarce commodity, and nowhere is that more evident than in how we use so-called mobile devices.
It used to be that cell phones had one purpose. They allowed us to place and receive calls. It wasn’t long, though, before everyone was using their cell phones to text instead of talk. The logic of this phenomena still escapes me. If I want to tell someone something, I CALL them on my cell phone. It’s fast, it’s convenient, and there’s no chance that my message will be misinterpreted by typos or bad grammar. On the flip side, proponents of texting say that if the person you wish to speak with is in a meeting and can’t take your call, they can still communicate via text. But if you’re in a meeting, chances are someone is paying you to be there, so you shouldn’t be texting. You should be focused solely on that meeting, and on doing the job you’re being paid to do. Remember, multi tasking is not necessarily a badge of honor. Mostly it’s just rude behavior.
In addition to fostering rudeness, texting also causes accidents, some minor, some fatal. I can’t tell you how many times a text-head has walked right into me because he never looked up to see where he was going. And nearly every week, we hear of a car crash that was caused by someone who was texting while driving. Let’s face it, people with mobile devices often endanger themselves and those around them. Unfortunately, texting while walking or driving is no longer the worst of our worries.
Last month, careless behavior reached new heights with the advent of Pokemon-Go, an augmented reality game based on the 1990s cartoon, which can now be downloaded onto most mobile devices. The point of the game is to hunt animated monsters. However, Pokemon players have become so obsessed and focused on the game, that they are not watching where they’re going. For example, a 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl was recently hit by a car while crossing the street. She was playing Pokemon Go, instead of paying attention to traffic. Meanwhile, a Baltimore man was engaged in the game while driving, and he slammed into the back of a police car. And in North San Diego County, two men fell off of a 75-foot cliff because Pokemania had them looking into their mobile devices instead of straight ahead. These Pokemorons are also finding themselves victims of other kinds of related mishaps. In O’Fallon Missouri, four teenagers used the game to lure a dozen other Pokemon players into a remote area, where the clueless gamers were robbed. Sgt. Bill Stringer explained the scheme. “Using the geo location feature of the Pokemon Go app, the robbers were able to anticipate the location of unwitting victims.” Sadly, these are not isolated incidents.
I keep coming back to Mom’s warning, “Look both ways before crossing the street, and watch where you’re going.” It’s the kind of advice that keeps you from bumping into cars, walking into traffic, falling off cliffs, and being lured into alley ways. Of course there are Pokemon Go apologists who say that the positives of hunting digital monsters far outweigh the negatives. For one thing, they say playing the game gets kids out of the house, and that helps to reduce our obesity epidemic. I say all they’re doing is shifting the fat from their bellies to their heads.
Sure I know that not all Pokemon Goers are irresponsible, but injuries and incidents will continue to increase exponentially, and that should concern parents. According to Fortune.com, the game was downloaded ten million times in its first week, and is now on more Android phones than the highly successful dating site Tinder. That means some people would rather chase cartoon characters into moving traffic than have social interaction with a member of the opposite sex. Moreover, many Pokemorons are obsessed with the game even when they’re not even playing it. Evidence of that occurred two weeks ago during a press conference at the State Department. While briefing members of the fourth estate about the escalating threat of ISIS, State Department spokesperson John Kirby was distracted by a reporter who was doing something with his mobile device instead of taking notes. “You’re playing the Pokemon thing right there, aren’t you?” asked Kirby. “I’m just keeping an
eye on it”, replied the reporter.
I think Greensboro Police Officer Ben Wingfield said it best when he told a local TV station, “When you’re involved in a game and not paying attention to what’s going on around you, your situational awareness can go down.” Translation? If you’re chasing cartoon characters and fail to look both ways and watch where you’re going, then you are by definition a Pokemoron. It’s just too bad there’s not an App for common sense.