Pokémon Go and augmented virtual reality games: a cautionary commentary for parents and pediatricians.

Curr Opin Pediatr

aWilliams College bHarvard University cWashington University in St. Louis dDevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York, USA.

Published: October 2016

Purpose Of Review: The recent release of Pokémon Go has ushered in a new set of challenges for parents and pediatricians, highlighting the importance of parents setting guidelines for video game use with their children. Within 1 week of its launch, the game attracted over 65 million users, many of whom are young children. Despite the potential benefits of the game described in our article, this location-based game format poses specific threats to the safety and physical wellbeing of children.

Recent Findings: Reports have discussed both the benefits and adverse effects of this extremely popular video game. Benefits include increased exercise, socialization, and outdoor activity. Negative effects include increased risk of injury, abduction, trespassing, violence, and cost.

Summary: Pediatricians play a key role in counseling parents and children about safety precautions and setting appropriate limits for impressionable youth. Parents and pediatricians should be aware of this new and remarkably popular game that appeals to a wide variety of individuals. To protect children from injury, predators, and inappropriate situations, parents and pediatricians must regulate children's participation in this game and maintain vigilance for potentially dangerous circumstances.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0000000000000409DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

parents pediatricians
16
video game
8
include increased
8
game
7
parents
6
pediatricians
5
pokémon augmented
4
augmented virtual
4
virtual reality
4
reality games
4

Similar Publications

Objective: To increase the number of episodes of vitamin D teaching in the primary care setting for parents of human milk-fed infants and to explore pediatric clinicians' knowledge of vitamin D supplementation in human milk-fed infants and their perception of project intervention usefulness.

Design: Quality improvement project using a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design.

Setting/local Problem: Despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, vitamin D supplementation adherence rates for human milk-fed infants remain low.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The prevalence of mental health disorders among children and adolescents presents a significant public health challenge. Children exposed to armed conflicts are at a particularly high risk of developing mental health problems, necessitating prompt and robust intervention. The acute need for early intervention in these situations is well recognized, as timely support can mitigate long-term negative outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Universal in the United States (US) since 2006, newborn screening (NBS) programs for sickle cell disease (SCD) allow for early identification of the disease and, as an unintentional byproduct, identification of sickle cell trait (SCT). Unlike other carrier states, SCT is highly prevalent and is found in nearly 3 million Americans, which results in important reproductive implications. Currently, all NBS programs in the US are responsible for their own policies regarding SCT notification, and little is known about how SCT notification practices are performed and how these practices vary across NBS programs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Recurrent tonsillitis is a common indication for tonsillectomy in children and has phenotypic overlap with periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and cervical adenitis (PFAPA) syndrome. We sought to characterize symptoms associated with PFAPA among children undergoing tonsillectomy.

Methods: Parents/guardians of children undergoing tonsillectomy at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital over a six-week period were queried regarding symptoms of recurrent fever.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Weight-related conversations are common between adolescents and parents. However, there is limited understanding of how these conversations vary across sociodemographic groups, such as sex, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, or parents' level of education. This study assessed the prevalence of weight-related communication among adolescents and parents across sociodemographic characteristics, and identified adolescents' preferred sources for these discussions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!