Pokémon: “gotta catch them all” & the craze behind it all

It wasn’t long ago that I wrote about smartphones and their use in the classroom, but now we have a new craze. It can be seen on the streets, in parks and even in the workplace! Looking around, children and adults are immersed in their phones, stumbling over and using their phone as some sort of walking navigation system!

Pokémon Go! This is what it’s all about. Using the camera on your smartphone to catch a small holographic cartoon which can be seen lurking in the real environment; behind chairs, hiding behind the photocopying machine in the staff room and even in toilets!

Why are so many of us driven towards this? There are a number of psychological explanations to answer this:

One reason is the need to fit in (normative social influence) - the game allows users to interact with nearby users, therefore not only acting as a social platform, but a way of communicating with others. Also, you don’t want to be the only person in your friendship group who isn’t playing!

Curiosity killed the cat…well not literally! We humans are curious beings and with a sudden new craze we want to see what it’s all about. Once we start playing the game, operant conditioning kicks in. The game is based on catching Pokémon and receiving rewards such as poke balls or eggs, which compels us to carry on catching, as long as we keep being reinforced!

Another reason is what’s known as the endowment effect - being able to create an avatar and personalise it, allows us to create a fantasy character which may resemble an ideal self. You then feel as though you have power and control over this avatar.

These are just some of the reasons which may attract us to download, play and stumble on the roads, but will you be going to catch them all, or will you be letting them go for someone else!

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