Correlates of excessive Pokemon Go playing among medical students

BACKGROUND: A new virus “Pokémon GO” is infecting Homo sapiens at an exponential rate. The symptoms include swaying your cell phone in air and focusing in blankness, straying into the unknown in search “Pikachu”. In the “Pokedemiological” triad, the host is a medical student, agent is Pokémon GO, and the environment is a chaos of childhood fantasies and peer pressure turning into a vicious cycle of addiction, stress, anxiety, and depression. AIM: The aim was to study the correlates of excessive playing of Pokemon Go in medical students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By purposive sampling, fifty MBBS students who were regularly playing Pokémon GO for more than 2 weeks and equal number of age-and sex-matched students who were not playing any computer games were included in this study with their consent. They were assessed with a pro forma asking information about their habit and the depression, anxiety, and stress scale. Statistical analysis was done using t-test, Chi-square test, and Mann– Whitney U-test. RESULTS: Reasons for starting to play Pokemon Go included liking the concept (n = 39), peer pressure (n = 8), and free availability (n = 3). Wandering outside their residence alone until way after dark to play the game was reported by 27 players, and six admitted to stopping in the middle of a road to catch a rare pokemon. Twenty-eight players admitted that the game had adversely affected their behavior. Twenty players play much longer than they originally planned, whereas 22 lost track of time while playing the game. The players were under significantly more stress, anxiety, and depression compared to nonplayers. CONCLUSION: Regular playing of Pokemon Go results in adverse consequences including exposure to dangerous situations, stress, anxiety, and depression.