Joining the craze four years late

Driving away on the day after Boxing Day I switched the radio on and someone mentioned playing Pokemon Go on the radio, so I thought Id give it a go. And all I can think is that I’ve given up. After all, this is a free game, if game is the right word. I’ve decided that enough companies and governments harvest personal data. I don’t even know who’s responsible for mobile Pokemon and I haven’t paid any attention to the rules, but whoever wants to profile me can. They can have it, except access to my contacts, camera, and photos. I declined all of these and I’m guessing that selecting the deny option actually works. Children and adults may well have accepted every option without thinking. Either way, 10 percent of people could be millions of harvesting options. In short, we’re screwed. We’ve given up all of our data and when it’s our turn in Room 101, the people in power will know if you hate rats.

The power of the cartoon character is that it appeals to children. That’s why there’s not a picture of a camel on Camel cigarettes anymore. A free game on the other hand isn’t doing any harm provided you can afford the mobile data. In fact, Pokemon Go is a good thing in that kids get outside and go for a walk, or at least they used to. The game served its purpose and now I guess that kids aren’t going for walks anymore. Whatever the next thing is, it should involve lots of walking around with an expensive piece of electronics that tracks all of your movements and can spy on you.

I played the game for 20 minutes without much of an idea about what I was doing, but that didn’t matter. The trill of catching a new little monster was adictive. Catching a wild Picachu is exciting and pain free for the little chap from what I could see. This could be my new training app. Running in straight lines is boring and safe. I want to be crossing roads, forgetting what I was doing just for the thrill of hunting. And then, some monsters fire back at me. It’s a jungle out there!

Thinking about it, I should do something better with my time, but if it gets me out it can’t be a bad thing. Then again, I could just walk to the park and see if the nuthatch takes some of my squirrel food again.