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 In the augmented reality game, players use their mobile devices to
collect Pokemon cartoon characters in real world locations, which
rewards moving around as much as possible. The game is disabled when
you’re moving faster than 10 miles per hour.
Over a 10-day period in July of this year, John Ayers of San Diego
State University in California and his colleagues collected a random
sample of 4,000 tweets containing the terms “Pokemon” and “driving,”
“drives,” “drive” or “car.” Each of the analyzed tweets was reviewed
by four individuals and categorized.
They also identified reports of crashes caused by Pokemon GO
according to Google News.
“We wanted to do rapid detection so we looked at what the public was
saying in their own words on social media,” Ayers said.
About a third of the 4,000 tweets indicated that a driver, passenger
or pedestrian was distracted by the game, for example, “omg I’m
catching Pokemon and driving.” The researchers say this proportion
translates to 113,993 incidence reports on the whole of Twitter
during the 10-day period.
Thirteen percent of the tweets had to do with safety, and the
remaining 54 percent were hypothetical or unclear.
Most often tweets mentioned driving and playing. Distracted
passengers and pedestrians playing the game were mentioned less
often.
“The problem is probably much large than that, as not everyone is
reporting it on Twitter or is on Twitter,” Ayers told Reuters Health
by phone. “The only thing preventing them from getting in a car
crash is luck, they’re distracted and they’re walking into traffic.”
There were 14 car crashes related to the game reported on Google
News during the same period, according to the research letter in
JAMA Internal Medicine.
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Many have praised Pokemon GO for encouraging physical activity, but
the target audience of the game, 15- to 24-year-olds, aren’t
necessarily dying from weight-related issues like diabetes, Ayers
said. The leading cause of death for young adults is motor vehicle
crashes.
“Collateral consequences may eclipse benefit in this case,” he said.
The mobile game and mobile device industry has all the information
necessary to respond to this issue, he said.
“We know if you’re in a car, we know if you’re on a roadway or near
a roadway,” he said. “Why not make the game inaccessible?”
“People can go out and advocate for that but we need policymakers
and leaders to reeducate themselves and consider regulating gameplay
in this same way,” he said. “Why you should be able to open the app
up when you’re near a roadway or in a car is beyond me.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2cOUwF1 JAMA Internal Medicine, online
September 19, 2016.
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