‘Pokémon Go’ Adds to Safety Concerns Associated with Smartphone Use, says WWU Professor

As Pokémon Go soars to never-before-seen heights of usage across the world – consider that in barely over a week after its release it already had more daily users than Twitter – some questions have begun to arise about safety.

Users have walked off cliffs, strolled into traffic, and driven their cars into trees as they remained glued to their smartphones in search of digital creatures to collect. This type of distractive behavior that can potentially lead to disastrous results is known in the psychological field as “Inattentional Blindness,” and Western Washington University Professor of Psychology Ira Hyman’s research is at the forefront of examining this burgeoning safety concern.

“Pokémon Go is undoubtedly leading to cell phone distraction as people walk around. They look at their phones and fail to notice the world. Even when the phone is displaying the actual background as someone catches a Pokémon, they will be focused on the Pokémon and fail to see other things,” Hyman said.

His past experiments noted the high rate at which people using cell phones walked right by a unicycling clown or strolled past a tree festooned with dollar-bill “leaves” – and actually moved their heads to avoid the dollar bills but failed to realize them for what they were. This research made national news and is sure to get even more exposure as the number of accidents due to Pokémon Go continues to climb.

But even as the stories about users walking into open manholes or into brick walls keep surfacing, Hyman said parents especially need to not overreact to the safety concerns associated with the game.

“This is a smartphone issue, not a Pokémon issue,” he said. “The game itself encourages physical activity and social interaction, and getting outside and being more active are both really important. Parents just need to mitigate the hazards by teaching common-sense smartphone use or, for smaller kids, by accompanying them as a ‘designated walker’ to make sure they are being safe.”

Hyman added that he hoped later iterations of the game would be more selective in where it was asking people to go, such as removing traffic circles or landmarks in areas dangerous to people on foot.

For more information on his research into Inattentional Blindness and Pokémon Go, contact Hyman at (360) 650-3519 or at ira.hyman@wwu.edu.