Doctor Says Pokémon Go is Reclaiming the Streets of Britain as Playground

[Maura]

According to British GP (primary care physician) Dr Margaret McCartney, writing in the British Medical Journal, via The Telegraph, the Pokémon Go craze is helping children to get fit by encouraging them to play outdoors.

Dr McCartney said, “We all need real life connectivity, and the net can facilitate that. The possibilities for apps to make the streets an active, reclaimed playground in which to have interconnected fun are boundless. Increased physical activity is a tantalising side effect.”

And while acknowledging the many negative stories in the press about things going badly wrong when people are distracted while playing Pokémon Go, such as people being robbed or killed or injured, Dr McCartney says that this means that the beneficial and more positive effects of the game might get ignored in favour of the more sensational headlines.

“We never hear about the things that didn’t happen. The heart attacks prevented through more exercise, or the vitamin D deficiency that geeks have avoided, blinking in the sunlight while catching a Pikachu monster.”

Dr McCartney also talked about how children tend not to play outside nowadays as much as they did when she was young, and how Pokémon Go is even helping to change this.

“The good thing about Pokémon Go is it is not aimed at people who want to walk, but those who are excited by playing games.”

Source: Pokemon Go could be key to improving children's health, claims GP