‘Catching ‘em all’ puts people in real danger

kentonline editor

If all of your friends told you to jump off a cliff – would you? No? What about if your Pokémon took you there? Last week, two boys in San Diego did exactly this – plummeting more than 50ft while trying to ‘catch em’ all’.

Pokémon Go is a game that has taken the world by storm, seeing more daily users than Twitter.

Users open the app on their phone and a digital character walks where they walk. Players then search for virtual creatures in real-life locations.

The basis behind the game, to get people outside and moving to find pocket monsters, is great.

However, the lengths some people are going to because of it is not.

Four boys in Wiltshire found themselves stuck in caves more than 100ft underground after going hunting.

Three students were robbed at knifepoint in Manchester while playing.

And several phone calls were made to Nottinghamshire Police reporting suspicious activity – all of which turned out to be Pokémon Go users.

Have I missed something – or have we gone completely mad? “Somebody stole my Pokémon.” A quivering voice nervously says.

“Why is that a 999 call?” A handler asks the clearly distressed woman.

This almost epitomises the last week of pandemonium hitting the UK since the phone application was launched.

This is a game, nothing more and nothing less. It should not be wasting the emergency services time and it should not be putting people in real danger.

A man also posted a picture from a hospital delivery room, of him catching a Pidgey while his wife was in labour – why, I hear you ask? I questioned it too.

It speaks volumes for our virtuallyobsessed generation.

Perhaps it’s time to look at life’s priorities and place a phone app slightly closer to the bottom of the list.