Pokemon Go: One of the Big Problems

Why don’t I like Pokemon Go?

We live in a parsonage next to the church. My kids often bring lunch to my office. To reach me they walk through the parking lot. Assuming time permits, while eating I talk with my kids. Here is a conversation that just took place:

My kids: “There are two people in the parking lot.”

Me: “What are they doing?”

My kids: “We don’t know. Just sitting in a truck. We said, ‘hi’ to them, but they didn’t say anything.”

When my kids leave my office, I often stand at the door to watch them walk home. If it’s late, or like the other day when a murderer was on the loose, I walk them home. Since I didn’t know who the individuals are in the truck, I walked out with my kids. Here’s how the conversation went with the two people, although I’m leaving out some details so they remain anonymous:

Me: “How are you doing?”

Them: “Good.”

Me: “What are you doing? Can I help you with something?”

Them: “No, we’re just playing Pokemon Go.”

Me: “It brought you to our parking lot?”

Them (laughing): “Yes!”

Me: “My brother-and-sister-in-law live next door. Our associate pastor lives a few houses away. Between their kids and our kids there are lots of children playing, running, and riding around. Next week we’re going to have a lot of kids here for VBS. There are lots of activities throughout the week that have kids here too. This is why we try to limit traffic in our parking lot.”

Them: “Oh yeah, that makes sense. We totally understand.”

While talking to them, another car pulled up and two kids (I’d guess 7 or 8) got out staring at their devices. I thought, “An adult is driving them around for this?” Back to the conversation with the individuals in the truck:

Me: “Are they here for Pokemon too?”

Them (laughing again): “I’m sure.”

Me: “Are there going to be a lot of people coming here?”

Them: “Probably, but you don’t have to worry, because they’ll drive through without stopping. They just need to have visited.”

Let me present these words more accurately: “People are going to be driving around staring at their phones instead of looking at what’s in front of their vehicles.”

Then another car pulled into the parking lot driven by a grown man. There were no kids in the car. In other words, a 50ish-year-old-man was playing. While his car was rolling forward, he was staring at his phone. Three vehicles within 5-10 minutes of each other.

Pokemon Go will make the statistics worse

The number of people getting in accidents because they are texting, looking at their phones, etc is already very high. Pokemon Go will increase these numbers. Here’s my advice:

Be safe out there!
Watch the road when you’re driving.
Take care of your kids.
Look out for other drivers who aren’t looking out for you.

Discuss: What do you think about Pokemon Go? Have you seen it cause any problems?

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