Did someone knock into you while you were trying to enjoy a casual stroll in Central Park? Did you see a teenager running through the park like a meth addict seeking a fix? Then you probably witnessed the newest phenomenon wrecking the minds of the youth (and many adults) of our nation.
Thousands of people playing Pokémon Go, the augmented reality smartphone-based video game, have descended on Central Park since the game was released a week and a half ago. This weekend there was even a stampede as players chased a rare monster through the park. “It’s not a geeky thing to do,” one player insisted to the Times.
Check out some videos below of people playing.
Pokemon GO is just insane right now. This is in Central Park. It's basically been HQ for Pokemon GO. pic.twitter.com/3v2VfEHzNA
— Jonathan Perez (@IGIhosT) July 11, 2016
Is this generation ever going to grow up?
Seriously, people in their late 20s and 30s are stuck playing these silly little video games. It’s hard to believe really. Like eternal children.
“Did someone knock into you while you were trying to enjoy a casual stroll in Central Park?” YES
“Did you see a teenager running through the park like a meth addict seeking a fix?” YES
…nothing to do with Pokoman, however.
thought I’ve seen stupid, but something else comes along and tops it……God help this country
Don’t understand the craze, but considering all the political unrest; unhappiness; and mass killings going on in our country, I welcome anything that unites people for a happy and fun cause . . .
I saw a man (appeared to be in early 30s) on W. 74th St. yesterday pushing a baby carriage and walking a dog. He was totally into his Pokemon game.
What a complete moron.
Jesus. This generation and their stupid fads. I, for one, judge them to be dumber than any others. I mean, there were things like:
-Sea Monkeys
-Pet Rocks
-Tomagotchis
-Pogs
-Mood Rings
-Lava Lamps (and its close cousin, anything black light related)
-Chia Pets
-Tickle Me Elmo
-Yo Yos
-Swatch Watches
-Bedazzling
But this generation is clearly sillier than any past ones.
Modern fads such as this new Pokemon game may not be any more “dumb”, “silly” or puerile than any of the fads of past generations that you listed*. But..
How many people walked the streets and parks of the City while completely distracted by their Swatch Watch or mood ring? How many crashes and accidents occurred as a result of people walking or driving while yo-yo-ing or cuddling a Chia Pet? How many dinners and other social gatherings were interrupted by an adult or adolescent tending to his Sea Monkey or pet rock? How many kids spent hours locked in their rooms mesmerized by their Lava Lamp?
(*Though I would question the inclusion of the “Swatch Watch” on this list. While clearly a fad, it was nonetheless fully functional and, as best as I can recall, affordably priced.)
What’s the case against lava lamps?
I wonder if the negative comments made towards this game and the people who play it are coming from the same people that get pissy about finding the perfect bagel.
I don’t understand the negativity from the media and some people around this game. It’s getting people of all ages, groups of friends and even families outside walking/interacting. Why the judgement? I’ve had numerous people walk into me while texting or talking on their phone, why does it make a difference that they are playing a game? Enjoy the people watching!
Stampeding through a public space while staring at your phone is not interacting.
Is “interacting with your phone” considered interacting? Is it socailizing? Is it being together?
For some, yes.
Wouldn’t it be nice if these same people consumed with Gaming could find a single hour in their week or month to put down the device and perhaps do some public service, take an elderly neighbor shopping, babysit for a mom in need or even volunteer at an animal shelter?
Have you considered that the people who play this game are just normal people who happen to spend some of their time playing a game on their phone? A game that doesn’t even require any time wasting, but can simply be played while walking between different locations. Something that anyone who lives in this city should be doing multiple times a day…
Playing Pokemon Go does not mean that a person does not volunteer their time elsewhere. Maybe they’re playing the game while walking to their elderly neighbors home.
Do you ever do anything for fun? Watch TV, go to the movies, a concert, sports game, etc? Maybe you should take your elderly neighbor shopping instead. Everyone enjoys different things and we should all have some time to take part in activities that we find fun. Spending some time having fun does not mean that you cannot also be a productive member of society and give back to the community as well.
Well, yes, that is certainly a valid point. And my response to reading Nelson’s comment was to wonder how he could know that none of the Pokemon enthusiasts he was referring-to did not also spend at least “a single hour in their week or month” doing a volunteer activity of the type that he listed.
What is disturbing here, however, is that the craze over this new video game would appear to be yet another case of yet further encroachment onto our lives and that of society as a whole by electronic gadgetry, gimmickry, diversion and distraction; yet another triumph of self-absorption and enthrallment of and subservience to machines* and illusions.
(*Which, let us remember, were originally supposed to serve us, as means towards various ends; now the technologies have themselves become ends.)
It’s one thing for an individual to find a comfortable spot in the park, settle-in and proceed to lose himself playing a game on his handheld digital device. It is quite another, however, for people to remain engaged, absorbed and distracted in this manner while walking in public, especially in the type of crowds that are typical of the City’s streets and (often and for much of at least) places like Central Park.
To think that there is now an entire generation that have never known anything different from this; a generation for whom a world in which the people walking on the sidewalk or riding the bus or train are alert-to and in-tune with each other and their surroundings is nothing more than a quaint historical account from a bygone era. Frightening.
(The same generation, it must be said, whose very consciences have been thoroughly corrupted by a culture of dissoluteness and decadence, coupled with and complemented by an insidious, utterly pernicious, relentless campaign of State and institutionally-sanctioned propaganda. This is the toxic diet that these youths have ingested, inhaled and absorbed from (at least) birth. That is the hideous reality. Alas, for the exigencies of time, brevity, topicality and the limits of allowable dissent from the Approved Narrative, I dare not elaborate.)
“(The same generation, it must be said, whose very consciences have been thoroughly corrupted by a culture of dissoluteness and decadence, coupled with and complemented by an insidious, utterly pernicious, relentless campaign of State and institutionally-sanctioned propaganda. This is the toxic diet that these youths have ingested, inhaled and absorbed from (at least) birth. That is the hideous reality. Alas, for the exigencies of time, brevity, topicality and the limits of allowable dissent from the Approved Narrative, I dare not elaborate.)”
– Independent
All this connects to people playing Pokémon?
Exactly so. It is an international treasure hunt, and what is so wrong with that? If people are chasing pikachu and friends and enjoying life, then more power to them.
I’m 62 and know almost nothing about Pokémon, but I have downloaded the app and intend to see what everyone is up to. Beats sitting around complaining.
Unfortunately, only if they are able to make an app for that.
I really don’t understand all the Pokeman Go hate. I’m not interested in the game myself, but they look like they’re having fun. What’s wrong with that?
+1 Nothing wrong with people going outside and having some fun, even if I don’t really understand it. Nobody bothered me over the weekend.
Damn all these people having fun with each other! They really look like they are enjoying themselves and having a positive experience. Didn’t they get taught that that is frowned upon by the Grown Ups?
What’s the matter with kids these days?
Jeremy … Ha
Did someone knock into you while you were trying to enjoy a casual stroll in Central Park? Did you see a tourist biking through the park like a meth addict seeking a fix? Then you probably witnessed the newest phenomenon wrecking the minds of the affluent youth (and many kidults) of our nation — Citibikes!
It’s not that all the other self-centered and antsocial behavior (texting while walking, riding bikes on the sidewalk, etc.) is somehow acceptable, the point is that this is yet another source of morinic public behavior.
For those affraid to have interaction with other actual humans during the day, the suburbs are calling to you! Please heed that call and stop cluttering the streets of this vibrant city with mobs of sweaty idiotic robots.
Your first paragraph was spot-on.
Too bad you had to resort to attacking the suburbs in your second. All– or even most— suburban folks don’t interact with anyone else all day? Is that what you really believe?
My regret is not buying Nintendo stock. July 6th it was at 14,380 today trading at 31,770!
I think it is a great app because the game requires kids to go outside and walk a lot. A lot better than being on a console game in front of a TV all day like what I did when Atari 2600 came out.
I am positive there will be more apps and games that build on the augmented reality technology. There could be educational uses. For example: hold up your phone pointing towards a building and photos of it 100 years ago would be super imposed over it. Another one (I think this one exists already) hold a phone to the sky at night and star constellation maps superimpose over the screen.
Is nothing, then, sacred from “augmented reality technology”, as you put it? Nothing safe from this encroachment of digital division from nature; the infernal machine; the electronic screen; (anti-)”social media”?
A time and a place for everything. To no longer be able to even fully enjoy the wonders of nature, the wonders of the world, in all their own fullness and glory, undistracted, undiluted, unmarred? What a disturbing thought!
Imagine some of the things Ambrose Bierce, H.L. Mencken, Mark Twain and any number of other wits of the past would have said about all this.
Well, got to admit it gets them off the couch, and socialize.
‘those the choices?