Driving home from church yesterday, my wife asked me if I had heard of the Pokémon Go game. Um . . . no. I really had no clue what she was walking about, except that there was a Pokémon cartoon at one time. You see, I’m not a gamer, not a huge TV buff, and am fairly inept when it comes to social media . . . I’m pretty much still in the Stone Age.

Disclaimer: This is in no way a review, endorsement, or promotion of Pokémon Go. Just one father’s brief experience with what seems to be the latest virtual phenomenon.

What I thought would be a quick end to the conversation, turned into something much more than I expected. Not only did my wife begin to read me some articles about this new interactive game, she than wanted to advocate for it in our lives. This is so cool honey; it uses augmented reality. We should try it! (Between you and me, I don’t think she had a clue what she was reading at first.)

Mashable defines Augmented Reality as:

Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.

Of course, our daughter was onboard as soon as she heard the word game.

Well . . . I was stuck. As any loving husband and father would do, I unwittingly agreed that they should put the game on the wife’s phone.

We weren’t even home at this point. Three miles from home, I was instructed to take the next left into and pull over. I thought something was wrong, but did as asked . . . it was all for the game, nothing was amiss. But they did score some Poké Balls!

And so it begins.

I was starving, and had to put my foot down when I realized our drive was nearing triple the amount of time it normally takes to get us home. The girls were a bit bummed, but I told them we could go out after lunch, as we had planned to go to the mall anyway.

I wish someone warned me.

The lunch discussion revolved around the girls’ strategy to search out and collect whatever Poké objects were to be had. And then it happened . . . I lost my phone. Actually, it was confiscated. Nevaeh realized she needed her own game, mommy probably wasn’t going to share.

So off we went.

Our 7-mile drive to the mall took approximately 13 miles through 9 different waypoints, and lasted over 45 minutes. But we made it to the mall in the end.

Who would have thought this fledgling game would have taken the world by storm? Until a few hours ago, I had never heard of it. Yet, there was a Friday Extra in the parking garage with a headline in regards to Pokémon Maddness. Gaggles of tweens, teens, and adults were huddled in hotspots raging battle and collecting Poké whatnots. I was beside myself.

I see both sides of this new craze, both the good and the bad.

  1. There is a huge opportunity to get people out moving again, especially our children. The premise of the games seems to revolve around the concept of exploring areas and collecting virtual things at particular waypoints. All good things! We need to get out more and engage beyond the couch, living room, and computer screen. For this I have no problem allowing my daughter, and even my wife, to continue playing this Pokémon Go.
  2. On this flip-side is the fact that this is just another trend to get people hooked on their digital product of choice, while wasting countless hours gaining something that has zero transferability to the real world. Sure it is fun, it could offer an hour or two of downtime, but that never really is the case.

My personal verdict, which only carries weight within my family, is that this could provide another opportunity for family time. We spent a few hours driving and walking around yesterday together, exploring neighborhoods and roadways, and otherwise having a good time.

It all comes down to perspective. If we are to just put our heads down in our phones, then there really won’t be much personal interaction. We were intentional about this being a time to spend together as a family, and because of that it worked.

Here are a few tips for those who have been, or will be, sucked into this craziness:

  • Lay down some ground rules for when going mobile in a vehicle.
    • No shouting stop!
    • Ask for a heads-up prior to turns, possibly a landmark.
    • As the driver, know the above two won’t happen.
  • When on foot, you’ll be the one following the Be Aware of Your Surroundings warning.
    • Have a bit of situational awareness for you and your family . . . they won’t.
    • Know that your kids will be sucked in, it’s your duty to keep them safe.
  • Make time to enjoy outdoors.
    • Take a moment and look around and really see where you are.
    • Use this as an opportunity to visit new places.

I have to say that we were rained out when things started to get fun. Our plan for this week is to go to a local park or two to have a bit more of an outdoorsy experience. I’m interested in how this plays out with those who travel too. I’ll let you know how things go as we embark on a few more of these Poké outings.

So what are your thoughts? Have you been sucked into the Pokémon Go vortex, and conscripted to be the family chauffeur yet?