This was written in 2017 when our kids were younger: ten and twelve years old. I hope to edit and update this, but have to get something posted for today! So, here it is!

One morning, I was walking back home after dropping off my son to his elementary school. Another mom, walking to her car, stopped me to ask a question. We chatted for a couple minutes before she glanced down at the cell phone in my hand.

“Oh my God, are you playing Pokémon Go?”

Yes, without my children, I was playing Pokémon Go. Our whole family loved the game, although Niantic, the makers of the game, almost lost us in their long delay before releasing generation two with 80 new Pokémon. Before that, however, we’d go out as a family catching Pokémon and collecting Poke balls at Poke stops all over town. We found ourselves doing a lot more walking together as a family. 

With the new release, we were back at it. My husband achieved the highest level with his workplace at the time being in Jack London Square surrounded by Poke stops. 

When the game first came out, I knew several parents who wouldn’t let their kids play. They had heard the horrific news reports of people playing the game and walking off cliffs or into traffic. One friend actually knew someone who was hit and killed by a car in which the driver was playing Pokémon Go. This was very unfortunate for an otherwise well-designed and clever game. Right away, Niantic added a warning at the beginning of the game to not play and drive and a restriction to help the cause. Over a certain speed, you cannot play. 

Still, people will sometimes be thoughtless. It’s the flipside of human nature, what keeps proving Darwin correct.

However, used wisely, Pokémon Go is not only a fun (albeit addictive) game to play with the family, it offers opportunities for some great learning. Here are six ideas for using Pokémon Go as a learning tool:

1.     Research Pokémon’s real-life equivalents. Did you know Pikachu is based on a real-life animal called a pika, a small, very cute mammal that lives in the mountainous areas of Asia and America? Stay tuned for a Blog post on more!

2.     Watch the Pokémon cartoon together. It models great ethics: perseverance, healthy competition, the value of education and practice, friendship, care of animals and the environment, fair play, and being an individual, exploring and finding your own strengths. The show’s style is hilarious, and we found it surprisingly entertaining.

3.     Play Pokémon Go together and talk about the landmarks at each Poke stop. Poke stops may be monuments, civic buildings, churches and other public spaces. We did this around Lake Merritt and in one very fun afternoon took in the bonsai garden, the Rotary Nature Center, lawn bowling, the Edoff Memorial bandstand, Fairyland, the Kaiser Building, the 18th Street Pier and more. And caught about forty Pokémon in the process! 

4.     Use Pokémon Go as a motivation to get some exercise and walk someplace familiar or new. Just walking into town together on Pokémon Go expeditions, we often have great conversations about our lives. 

5.     Ask your kids how they think Pokémon Go works. This is an opportunity to talk about design, technology, coding, GPS and global tracking, marketing, supply and demand, product development, human psychology, and more. 

6.     Playing Pokémon Go with the family provides a golden opportunity for teaching social technology etiquette. This is something we all talked a lot about when cell phones first came out, but the conversation has gone to the wayside a bit. I think it’s an important, ongoing discussion as our technological advances move at lighting speed in the 21st Century. Three of our rules are: 

1.     Always be aware of your surroundings even when using a device

2.     Always look up while crossing the street

3.     Never be on a device at a checkout stand or while interacting with another person who isn’t playing the game. Be polite instead. 

What are your etiquette rules around technology?