In Defense of Distraction

Why Pokémon Go is What the World Needs Now

This year has felt awful.

My friend Chris Allick was the first person (but not the last) I’ve seen asking whether Pokémon Go is just serving as a distraction from the real political and social issues affecting the world especially acutely right now. A rash of extrajudicial killings, heightened racial tension, terrorist attacks, and senseless gun violence (not to mention ongoing issues including unmitigated climate change, growing wealth inequality, chronic disease, biodiversity loss, increasing opioid addiction, ineffective governance, etc. etc.) demand discourse and undivided attention, particularly if we expect our policymakers to do something about any of it, let alone want things to meaningfully change. Right?

Maybe not.

Terrorism is a spectacle. It is the climax of much-rehearsed act in an ongoing narrative?—?one that often has little to do with the lives of those it affects. It’s not a uniquely modern phenomenon, but if it feels extremely common these days, that has a lot to do with the always-on news media. Without an audience, a terrorist act is just violence. Without a global populace to frighten and provoke, there would be no strategic relevance to this terrible tactic.

To be clear: it’s not that the media is the cause of terrorism, but as Margaret Thatcher put it, publicity is oxygen to terrorism.

So what happens when Pokémon Go steals the air? And further, what if Pokémon Go actually signals something new and different about the ways we can use digital technology to connect and collaborate in the real world? What if these silly, nostalgic, imaginary creatures are encouraging us to set aside our differences?

It’s possible (and necessary) to celebrate new ways of interaction and collaboration while still putting thought, intention, and activism toward intractable social issues. Occasionally, you can even do a little bit of both at once.

Despite some overloaded servers, this isn’t a Kardashian-style #breaktheinternet moment: this is something else entirely.

This is emotionally and mentally exhausted people finding a reason to venture out and work together. This is cops and communities finding apolitical common ground. This is gamification finally being used for broad behavioral and mental health benefits. This is potentially a new form of intervention for autism. This is a new narrative in a time when it’s desperately needed.

So if you’re the type to fret that this all feels like a frivolous distraction, allow yourself some room for realist optimism. Like it or not, a lot of people are playing Pokémon— it’s newsworthy. Maybe this is a flash in the pan?—?or maybe it’s a new way of working together. Either way, the flip-side of a complacent-and-distracted public could signal the gradual strategic suffocation of a tactic we’d all like to see go the way of state on state conflict.

Horrific acts, collective mourning, and media consumption of their images have become a central feedback loop in a system that is speeding toward fragmentation and flirting with collapse. Doing things differently is the only way that system changes.

Pokémon Go is different, and that’s worth paying attention to.