rise of traffic accidents in Japan<\/a>. It\u2019s easy to blame the game in these circumstances, but by the same token, do we blame the Satnav for when a driver ends up in a field in the middle of nowhere, or the driver for not paying attention? That isn\u2019t to say that concerns about safety of children playing the game are not valid, but by applying some common sense much of the danger can be avoided.<\/p>\nAlways Supervise Young Children<\/h3>\n
Young children should always be supervised when playing the game. They are far more likely to wander off and stray into areas they shouldn\u2019t than their older peers and siblings. There is no legal age limit on when a child can go out and play without adult supervision, and only you can judge if your child has the capacity to stay safe when out alone. The NSPCC recommends talking to your child about road safety and what to do if a stranger approaches them before you let them play alone.<\/p>\n
Playing Together<\/h3>\n
Playing with your child is the best way to ensure their safety. For older children, you could insist that they play with friends or siblings and agree some ground rules, such as a return time or areas that are out of bounds.<\/p>\n
Stranger Danger<\/h3>\n
Part of the game involves battling other players for control over gyms. Therefore it\u2019s possible that your child may encounter other people playing the game. Of course, many of these will be other children, and as a fully paid up member of the grown up geeky gamer clique I can assure you that most of us older players are also pretty harmless. It\u2019s highly unlikely that your child will come to any harm from another player, but it is still important to discuss with your child the boundaries they should put in place. Your child should also know what to do if they find themselves in a situation they are not comfortable with.<\/p>\n
Be Aware Of Your Surroundings<\/h3>\n
Most of us have been guilty at some point of looking at our phones instead of where we are going. With Pok\u00e9mon Go I found it very easy to get engrossed in the map and pay less attention to my surroundings. Turning the sound down to very low or silent can help with that, as it enables you to easily hear cars, etc. that may be approaching. Furthermore, you can leave the game running and place your phone in your pocket, as it will vibrate when a Pok\u00e9mon is near. As part of your boundaries for your children you could insist that they only play in pedestrian only areas such as parks. As an incentive, you are more likely to find certain types of Pok\u00e9mon in greener areas.<\/p>\n
Talk to your child in advance about areas that should be out of bounds. Thankfully, we don\u2019t have any abandoned minefields here in the UK, but there are plenty of areas that should be avoided, including building sites, caves, and deep or fast moving waters. Some areas may be safe to visit but that doesn\u2019t mean it is appropriate to do so, such as hospitals or cemeteries when a funeral is taking place. Explain to your child the reasons why these areas are out of bounds so that they understand the potential danger or upset that can arise.<\/p>\n
Keeping Personal Information Safe<\/h3>\n
The game requires you to provide personal information when you first start to play, such as a name, email address etc. In this digital age it\u2019s almost impossible to avoid handing over personal information to Internet giants, but if you are concerned about your child\u2019s data you could consider setting up a dummy Google account with a fake name and date of birth to use for the game. If you have already provided information to the game, then you can contact the game\u2019s owner Niantic, to rescind permission to use this information further. For more information on how to do this, visit their privacy policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a couple of weeks since Pok\u00e9mon Go launched in the UK and across the country both young and old are engrossed in their smartphones hunting for these elusive creatures. There has been a lot of negative press about the game, including complaints about players causing problems at hospitals, caves, and even at the site of the world\u2019s second biggest nuclear disaster. Some people are rightly worried about the safety implications of having large amounts of people walking around focusing on their phone and not where they are going (although anyone who has ever walked through central London during <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3180,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/3180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumblog.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}