Pokemon Go May Kill My Kid

There’s a new reason why I’m glad I put a phone tracking app on my 13-year-old’s iPhone: ’Pokémon Go. Yes, the lovable game from the late-nineties is back—this time in the form of a mobile treasure hunt—and it’s making people do crazy things all over the nation.

People have been spraining their ankles, falling down and walking into trees and poles everywhere they go, because their eyes are glued to their phones while racing about. One college student in Long Island, New York, even fell off a skateboard while scooting about.

The most recent mishap occurred in California when two men fell off a cliff searching for ’Pokémon creatures. NBC 7 in San Diego, California reported:

“Two men fell off a cliff Wednesday in San Diego's North County while playing ‘Pokemon Go,’ the Encinitas Fire Department confirmed.

San Diego Lifeguards reported that someone had fallen off a cliff at E Street around 1:12 p.m. When the Encinitas Fire Department arrived, they found a man around 80 to 90 feet down the cliff, on the beach.

Crews found a second man who was unconscious about 50 feet down the cliff.”

But that’s not the only crazy stuff that’s happening. A woman in Wyoming found a dead body floating in a river, a couple of players got themselves locked in a cemetery while on the ’Poké hunt, and there have been multiple reports of thieves tracking Pokémon characters in order to rob kids of their iPhones. Have you reconsidered using a text spy yet??

Those are just a few examples of what this new craze is doing and I want to make sure my son is being safe—because he’s just as hooked as the others. That’s why I’m using the mobile spy app I put on his phone this year—so that I can know where he is at all times and see who he is with.

I already use the text message spy software to make sure he’s not being preyed on by sexual predators and picked on by bullies. I’ve used it to monitor how much time he spends on social media and to see what exactly he is doing. But now I’ve got a new reason, to make sure he isn’t walking off a cliff or getting robbed by trying to throw a digital ball at some Poké sprite—whatever those are.

Yes, it’s a good thing that something is getting my son off the couch and outdoors, but as with almost anything, there’s always a yang to a yin. While my son is running around and getting fresh air and using his brain to search, he’s also putting himself in danger at times and I need to make sure he’s safe. It also helps that I’m keeping aware of how much time he’s spending on his phone and the amount of data he’s using up on his plan.