{"id":979,"date":"2016-08-17T12:59:10","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T17:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=979"},"modified":"2016-09-14T09:37:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T14:37:46","slug":"poke-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2016\/08\/17\/poke-panic\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9 Panic!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Shannon, Flick CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Brooklyn to Brazil, Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/a><\/em> has taken the world by storm. And with its popularity has come\u00a0a media frenzy \u2014 Thieves are <\/span>luring defenseless children<\/span><\/a>! Those <\/span>troublesome millennials are playing while driving<\/span><\/a>! The game is <\/span>even banned in Iran<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Popular games have long sparked moral panics and public anxiety about the well-being of our youth and their distinctive cultural tastes and subcultural practices. But we shouldn\u2019t be so quick to panic. In an overview of the game<\/a>\u00a0over at <\/span>Cyborgology<\/span><\/i>, Marley-Vincent Lindsey argues that casting the game as \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d ignores important social context. He explains,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u00c8mile Durkheim<\/a> would have called it the collective effervescence of the 1990s: an activity as much about the affect and socialization produced as it was about the game. Nintendo may have designed it, but people made it real.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And in fact, social science research gives us a more measured perspective on the good, the bad, and the Pok\u00e9.<\/span> Games create powerful social spaces where people can share a common emotional focus. This draws us in, and it is a foundation for all kinds of human social behavior. Rituals lived out through interactions create powerful shared social experiences that bring people together; we see this in everything from smoking to social media. <\/span><\/h5>\n