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Pokemon Go Dangers: Gotta Catch ‘Em All, But At What Cost?

By Christina St Jean
Published on: 00:06 PST, Jul 26, 2016

It seems that as soon as Pokemon Go hit the virtual shelves of whatever store people use to get apps downloaded, it became an instant sensation. Everyone has been playing Pokemon Go, and it does not appear to matter what age people are; it seems to be an app that is bringing people together and encouraging them to exercise like never before. That does not mean, however, that Pokemon Go is free of danger.

While YouTubers the Noodle Boys uploaded a video July 19 that outlined Pokemon Go’s dangers, the video itself has gotten slammed by the Toronto Transit Commission, according to CBC. The TTC said it was not impressed when Noodle Boys member Mark Correia was pictured walking beside the subway tracks at Union Station in Toronto, noting that not only could Correia have risked getting hit by a train, if he had chosen to walk the third rail, he would have gotten electrocuted, as 600 volts of electricity run through the third rail.

Correia said that the video was meant to be humorous in nature, and given the comedian has been filmed illustrating such Pokemon Go dangers as walking into trash bins and even inadvertently walking into a lake — specifically, Lake Ontario – the assumption could be made that the Pokemon Go dangers being illustrated are simply silly overstatements as to how obsessive some have gotten about the game.

Does that mean Pokemon Go is free of any danger?

No; take the case just this morning of a Newmarket, Ontario, Canada woman being arrested with having shot a pellet gun at Pokemon Go players. There are also Pokemon Go dangers afoot as far as the geolocation feature in the game is concerned, according to Forbes. There have already been reports of Pokemon Go players being “poke-lured” to certain locations and then robbed. While stranger danger should not be a concern if children are off hunting for Pokemon while with their families, the Pokemon Go dangers are certainly clear if children are hunting on their own for the elusive make believe creatures.

The Atlantic also notes there are what some may deem as unusual Pokemon Go dangers. France’s Minister of Social Affairs and Health Marisol Touraine cautioned “trainers” to exercise caution while playing Pokemon Go and to watch where they are going in order to avoid an accident. Pokemon Go was released July 24 in France.

In addition, two men in California walked off a San Diego bluff, further highlighting some of the Pokemon Go dangers. Authorities in Turkey, Israel, and Japan have issued warnings revolving around sun protection while playing Pokemon Go, hopefully decreasing the dangers connected to sun overexposure.

One of the riskier areas to play Pokemon Go might just be Bosnia, who warned players about the dangers of playing Pokemon Go in dangerous areas, citing the risk of possibly walking onto landmines left over from the 1992 Bosnian War.

Chris Carmichael, founder and chief creative architect of augmented reality specialist Ubiquity Inc., said in an email to Fox News that there are concerns about the Pokemon Go dangers involved with players simply not paying attention to where they are and putting themselves in risky situations.

“The Geographical mapping feature in Pokémon Go is leading people in areas that they should be avoiding and the nature of the game creates distractions so that people are not paying any attention to where they are,” he said.

Charles King, principal analyst of tech research firm Pund-IT, told Fox News that while there are certainly dangers associated with Pokemon Go — largely centered around the distraction it could create — a lot of the Pokemon Go dangers aren’t all that different from the distractions caused by other smartphone apps.

“Faulting the game for the sometimes dangerous, injurious and even fatal activities of players are a mistake – we’ve long seen analogous, if less extreme behavior, among distracted smartphone owners whose digital absorption regularly lands them in hospital emergency rooms and, occasionally, cemeteries,” he said of the potential Pokemon Go dangers.

[Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]

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