Is Pokemon Go the best thing to ever happen to society?

I'll admit straight off the bat I'm completely addicted to the new craze. And why shouldn't I be. It's a game that can bring out the eight year old in all of us. We now live in a world where a 7am trek to the corner shop is genuinely something to look forward to. Not only are you getting that bit closer to hatching the valuable 10K egg in the incubator, you're going to be walking past old Betty, who lives at number 39, like every morning. But also joining her will be a Pidgey, Zubat and Weedle. And that's just if you're unlucky, yesterday morning I encountered a Electrobuzz, which to someone who doesn't know the original Pokemon. Is a pretty cool looking yellow thing.

So for people who would go outside minimally before, now have great reason to be out roaming parks, towns and streets this summer. It also means that driving somewhere within walking distance is almost foolish to a world full of Pokemon enthusiasts. Admittedly, it's less than perfect considering these people wont look away from their phones for the duration of the time they're outside and may curse you for ringing them midway through a tense gym battle. But these are people who would have previously been locked up indoors binging Call of Duty and Netfilx 24/7. so surely its a good thing.

So now I want to tell you a little story about how my personal experience with the game has really made me passionate about writing this article. I was walking to the park and obviously playing Pokemon on the way and i noticed a gym that was under blue team control but was under attack. Now if you don't play the game this will make minimal sense but I'll try not to go into too much detail.
Basically there were three members of my team, the red team, trying to take control of it all there talking to each other despite having never met or spoken before. As a bit of a socially withdrawn person (usually) I stood a bit away from them and looked to see how it would play out. However within moments they saw me looking at my phone and started conversation. For the next 5 minutes we had serious discussions about the game and the matter at hand, as well as a bit of banter and general chat.
Although this conversation was less than riveting it was definitely better than walking with my earphones in. This was my second day of playing the game and since then I've had various little encounters with fellow Pokemon players. People who I never would have met otherwise.

And this happens on a much larger scale, there was recently a meet up in my local town centre that nearly 200 people attended to go and hunt for Pokemon together. I know what you're thinking; how sad is that! Admittedly I'd have to agree it is a little bit. But I still think its good, it's healthy for our ever decreasing sense of community, it's healthy for the people who'd usually be cooped up indoors and it's all fun.

So next time you tell someone to 'grow up' or 'get a life', maybe consider how harmless and healthy their little pass time is.