{"id":5555,"date":"2016-08-26T17:34:52","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T17:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=5555"},"modified":"2016-08-26T17:34:52","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T17:34:52","slug":"texas-am-prof-discusses-the-dangers-of-pokemon-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=5555","title":{"rendered":"Texas A&M Prof Discusses the Dangers of Pok\u00e9mon Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pokemon-GO-spotlight\"<\/a><\/p>\n

COLLEGE STATION<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s taking over headlines around the world \u2013 people being injured playing Pok\u00e9mon Go, a location-based augmented reality game. Conrad Earnest, a research scientist at Texas A&M University\u2019s Exercise and Sport Nutrition Lab, says much of the danger in playing the game is similar to the hazards of texting, a subject he has studied in the past.<\/p>\n

The game, first released in July, uses GPS to help players locate, capture, battle and train Pok\u00e9mon who appear on the screen as if they were in the same real-world location as the player. The app quickly became a global phenomenon and has been downloaded by more than 100 million people worldwide.<\/p>\n

In the days after the game\u2019s release, reports started coming in of people falling, running into things or even walking into traffic playing Pok\u00e9mon Go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with Pok\u00e9mon Go, in my opinion, is that it leads to a whole new level of not only slowing down, but moving in a particular direction to chase your Pok\u00e9mon,\u201d said Dr. Conrad Earnest.<\/p>\n

Dr. Earnest, a research scientist in the Exercise and Sport Nutrition Lab, completed research last year focused on texting and walking. Researchers found, when compared with non-distracted walkers, texting and cognitively distracted walkers slowed down, took more steps and increased the height of their steps to go over obstacles. Researchers used the results to hypothesize that the slowed walking pace coupled with path deviations will eventually cause a trip-and-fall accident.<\/p>\n

Dr. Earnest referred to that research to discuss recent concerns about dangers surrounding Pok\u00e9mon Go.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers are more likely to cross at a time when the crosswalk signs aren\u2019t giving a clear go. They\u2019re more likely to cross in the middle of the street as opposed to a crosswalk. I think Pok\u00e9mon Go is the potential recipe for more injuries and more pedestrian or traffic accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Earnest knows it is unrealistic to think people will just chase Pok\u00e9mon on foot \u2013 they\u2019re also going to chase Pok\u00e9mon behind the wheel. In fact, one of his friends was involved in an accident because of Pok\u00e9mon in early August.<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend of mine was riding his unicycle last night in a low and slow traffic area and was crossing the street in a crosswalk. A woman in a car was chasing a Pok\u00e9mon, ran a stop sign and hit him. He\u2019s OK, just a little sore.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been similar incidents around the world, including people crashing into parked cars or running off the road altogether. Bryan and College Station police have not reported major problems connected to the game, but they have expressed concern about players not paying attention to their surroundings or walking into traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more distractions you throw in the mix when you\u2019re trying to get from point a to point b, the greater likelihood of you running into a problem between point a and point b.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLLEGE STATION \u2013 It\u2019s taking over headlines around the world \u2013 people being injured playing Pok\u00e9mon Go, a location-based augmented reality game. Conrad Earnest, a research scientist at Texas A&M University\u2019s Exercise and Sport Nutrition Lab, says much of the danger in playing the game is similar to the hazards of texting, a subject he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5557,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555\/revisions\/5557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}