Hey everyone! Today I've got a post for you from Martin with GetFiredASAP.com. A few weeks ago I did a post about millennials and video games, and this is a continuation of that post but from Australia. Really…I just wanted to prove that I'm not the only crazy person who doesn't play video games haha! ~M$M
Last Saturday, Ms MM and I took advantage of the fabulous, mild winters here in Queensland and headed out to Redcliffe, a nearby beach area here in Brisbane, to enjoy an afternoon of bike riding along the foreshore, fish and chips and a couple of craft beers on the beach.
Actually, Redcliffe is world famous for being the boy-hood home of the Bee Gees. Yes, it’s true. Check it out here. It’s where they started their musical career until they moved to England in 1967. There’s even a tribute area, Bee Gees Way, dedicated to their career, opened by Barry Gibb in 2015. Well worth checking out if you happen to be passing through the area.
But I digress. Now maybe we’re getting old, or perhaps already there, but what we saw late in the afternoon and into the evening, left us shaking our heads in disbelief. There must have been a couple of hundred people, from young kids up to middle-age adults, all wandering around in a zombie-like trance, heads slightly bowed, with mobile phones and tablets held out in front of them.
There were small groups, families, singles, and couples all doing the same thing en masse. All wandering, apparently aimlessly, staring at their screens. Some had earphones plugged in. Many had power packs plugged in.
All of them had pretty vacant looks on their faces.
Had the zombie apocalypse begun in the heart of Redcliffe? Was this a group meeting for people with crooked necks and smart phone addiction? (kills two birds with one stone if it was true). Nope, it was Pokémon Go hysteria in full force.
We were incredulous as we watched entire families of mum, dad and the kids all holding their own phones and hunting out these virtual creatures to capture. As the evening progressed, we watched these same people walking up the street, phones still held in front of them like some sort of virtual shield. Most seemed lost in their own little, virtual world. Geeze Louise, I have to say, I’ve never seen anything like it.
Now my own feelings on video games, virtual reality, and ‘augmented reality’ games is not particularly flattering. I guess it’s a result of growing up in a time when none of this existed and ‘play’ meant being outside getting dirty if the weather was reasonable, or building things with Lego if confined to the house. In other words, reality, not ‘virtual’ reality. Yeah, now I am sounding old.
I’m not going to get into a rant here, but c’mon people, what are you doing? This is herd mentality at its ‘purest’. Another example of mass-attraction to the latest fad or craze. Millions of people around the world are now participating in Pokémon to the point where its begun creating its own set of problems.
There have been reports of Pokémon hunters damaging historic sites in their quest, people have been assaulted while searching for Pokémon’s, and there has even been a report of a guy being killed in a random attack while playing.
I read the other day, that Iran has now banned their citizens from playing or participating in Pokémon Go. Yes, in Iran you can now be arrested for playing the world’s most popular virtual reality game! Hey, maybe they’re on to something there.
So what has this go to do with personal finance? Not much really except that I use this as a segue into talking about ‘herd mentality’ and how following the herd, doing what the majority are doing, is going to be instrumental in holding you back from reaching your financial goals.
Here’s how.
Firstly, as many of us know, the majority, the herd, like to spend.
They spend what they earn and then they borrow to spend some more. And why? Because they want to keep up with what everyone else is doing. Accumulating ‘stuff’, either because they feel that it will make their lives more enjoyable, or to keep up with what their friends and family are doing. Holidays, new cars, new TVs, bigger homes, stuff, stuff, and more stuff. Just keep spending.
Secondly, how do the majority buy these more expensive items?
Save up and buy them for cash therefore avoiding wasteful interest payments? No, they buy on credit therefore often paying significantly more that the true purchase price of the item. Besides home purchase, those of us who don’t follow the herd know that if we can’t pay for something upfront, we can’t afford to buy it right now. We have to wait a little longer before we can add it to our own pile of stuff, and the side benefit of this is that by the time we can afford it, we’ve had time to reconsider whether we actually need it anyway.
Thirdly, most people follow the traditional route to retirement.
That is, work until 65’ish, then retire on what they have accumulated in their retirement fund topped up by any Government benefit payments they may be entitled to. It’s no surprise that the majority of retirees have saved insufficiently to enjoy a similar lifestyle to what they had while still working. And why? Because the herd don’t tend to plan their financial future particularly well do they.
And lastly…
If your financial future isn’t looking too rosy right now, maybe you don’t get paid very much, maybe you have a load of debt from buying that new car, or racked up on your credit cards, and you want to get ahead, financially, you don’t have time for playing [email protected]$# video games.
So are there any benefits to playing Pokémon Go? Supposedly, it’s got millions of people around the world, off the couch and outside getting some exercise. Barrrrrrp, wrong. It’s got millions of people off the couch cluttering up the streets and public spaces. I have yet to see any single one of them doing any proper exercise. So I suspect that the only benefits from PG are for Nintendo and the clever people who developed the game, and the mobile phone companies who are raking in the money from all of the additional data you are using. Please forgive me if I’ve missed anything but if anyone can educate me on the benefits to the players, I’m all ears.
So what are you going to do? Follow the crowd? Be like everyone else spending what you earn and then borrowing to spend even more? Or are you going to break free of the herd? Run your own race and do what you have to reach your own financial goals? And finally, are you going to keep giving even more of your hard earned stash to the mobile phone companies just to follow the herd? Or will you wise up and put it towards your own financial future?
Questions for you:
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Are people ACTUALLY losing weight via PokemonGo? (Just curious…I legitimately want to know!)
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If you do like video games, what is a healthy amount of time spent per week playing?
That’s pretty funny, you literally saw a herd who all had “herd mentality”. You make a great point about getting rid of Pokémon. I can say that I never fell into that herd mentality or many other common personal finance related herd mentalities. You bring up a good point too, just wait until these folks check out their next cell phone statement and see their data usage sky-rocketed! Once they see that they may want to re-think their “exercise program…”
Good post, Martin!
Haha I keep hearing that it’s great exercise…but is it really? I guess I should do some Google research and see if there are any legit weight-loss stories out there right now 🙂
I’ve heard the ‘getting some exercise’ excuse too. If you want exercise you need to be burning energy, people, that means a little sweat. Walking like a zombie is not exercise.
Martin, loved this post! My wife and I had almost an identical experience a few weeks back when we went for a bike ride in a busy urban park. We were walking our bikes through a crowd of hundreds of people and I think we were the only ones not staring at a smartphone. My wife looked over at me remarks, “I feel like we’ve entered another dimension!” Very surreal.
And thanks M$M for sharing this post with your readers!
🙂 no problem! Everyone gets so fired up about this stuff haha
It’s one of the only benefits to my current job. I’m a line cook in a restaurant. We work long hours, are lifting things that are at least 50 lbs, running around the kitchen averaging about 3-5 miles a day. We’re also in a hot environment, which more me makes me want to eat less and we sweat profusely. Basically, I’m collecting a paycheck for working out instead of using part of my miniscule paycheck to PAY to workout! Now if only I can get rid of the pesky debt of mine lol. But I’m working on it! I even budgeted it to where I can pay off 2 of my credit cards 2-3 months ahead of my previous time table! Progress!
Yeah that’s awesome! Let me know when you pay them off 🙂
When I was a band director it was EASY to stay in decent shape. I had to walk a ton every day and run around the band practice field. Also, I was really really stressed out haha. Now it’s a little harder because I work from a computer.
Ok, I’ll chime in, being as I’m a Pokemon Go player.
I read M$M’s post about video games a few weeks back, and largely agreed with the overall point he was making. Tons of people complain about where they’re at in life, bemoan their financial situation, but then waste their time when they could be leveraging it to improve themselves. That message is super important and I completely agree.
I have a full time job, a second job during some evenings/weekends, I’m married, we have 2 dogs, and I blog in my spare time. Needless to say, I live a full and busy life. I never really play video games, but have been enjoying Pokemon Go.
Des, over at halfbanked.com, wrote a great response about how everyone deserves some from of leisure time and that will look different for everyone. Some people may choose to binge watch Netflix, some may choose hiking, writing, art, or video games. It doesn’t make much sense to judge a person’s work ethic or how much value they’re getting out of life just based on how they choose to spend their leisure time.
Now for Pokemon Go, it definitely has people glued to their phones even more than normal, which isn’t good. As with any hobby, there’s some people who get way too obsessed with it. In general however I have noticed some positive benefits to the game as well:
-It does get people out of the house and exercising. Lots of introverts have been going out and about much more than usual. You can’t catch anything good in the game unless you go out into real life and walk around.
-The walking adds up. My wife and I have gone to some parks to take walks together sometimes in the evenings. It’s been great exercise.
-We’ve explored new places that we had never gone to before.
-We’ve socialized with people at parks that we wouldn’t have talked to without such an obvious common interest that we all share.
-My co-workers and I have been taking walks outside on our lunch breaks, letting us get to spend more quality time together and get exercise.
So to conclude, I would completely agree with you about avoiding a “herd mentality,” especially when it comes to spending habits. I get that seeing all those people glued to their phones probably looked weird, and I definitely think some people over-do it. However, I don’t think it’s solely the game that is the issue. There’s lots of ways of spending leisure time, and I think it’s a perfectly acceptable way to unwind from life’s stresses.
Thanks Matt! THAT is what I’ve been wondering. I hear everyone say that it’s a good way to get out and be a little more active. Love the examples you gave there.
The glued to the phone this is just how millennials are. Heck, I’m GLUED to my site and Twitter constantly. It doesn’t matter that I’m technically working, I’m sure it still drives older people nuts.
I read Dez’s post and thought it had some really great points. The only one that I don’t necessarily agree with is that we deserve leisure time. We don’t really deserve a whole lot in life IMO. There are plenty of people in other parts of the world that struggle to stay alive or drink fresh water every day, so saying I deserve mental breaks in my already cushy lifestyle seems a little ridiculous with that perspective. That’s just me though, and I know that my opinion isn’t the popular consensus.
The people that out-compete you in business or get promoted first at your company aren’t going to lay off and play nice because you need mental breaks. They’ll beat you because you gave them the opportunity…that’s just how it works here at least! 🙂
Ultimately…people should do whatever they want as long as they aren’t complaining.
Glad I could share some insight. Yeah, I consider myself to be a relatively fit person, but my legs have actually been sore from all the walking. You walk to find new Pokemon and also once you’ve walked a certain distance there are “eggs” in the game that hatch. Definitely motivating.
I agree with you about the “deserve” concept. I think it’s more that it’s a powerful word choice. We’re already so much better off than most people, so we don’t really “deserve” anything more. I think what her point was (or at least what I took from it) was that it’s perfectly acceptable to have some leisure time built into your schedule IF you’re handling your responsibilities. It helps avoid burnout and actually will help you be more productive in the long run. I live in the Bay Area and everywhere around me people are working INSANE hours, not getting adequate sleep, etc. At that point your quality of life suffers. You need to have a good work-life balance or your energy/health/relationships/etc will all suffer. Like most things in life, balance is key. Pokemon GO could certainly be a distraction from reaching your goals, or it could be a fun hobby in addition to a well balanced life. It’s up to the individual, not the fault of a particular use of leisure time.
Well said my man!
Hey there Matt. Thanks for your comments. It’s good to hear that you are reaping some benefits from the game but seriously, not many would be getting any kind of workout from my observations. Again, maybe my comments are from someone who grew up without needing external augmented reality to create our games.
Another gripe I have with these games is that they become marketing tools of the big corporations to get users to spend more on things they don’t need. PG get paid to put characters in the premises of these companies so that when players go searching they are being led to the counter. Too easy.
Martin,
It’s obviously not a high intensity workout where you’d be sweating and burning a high amount of calories, but it does involve a lot of walking which is certainly better than other alternatives (sitting playing regular video games, binge watching Netflix, etc.)
Honestly the biggest draw for me has been the nostalgia of my childhood, and also the “treasure hunt” aspect that you never know what you’re going to find. Like I said, I never play video games, but this has been enjoyable.
There are definitely tons of marketing possibilities with games like this, but again the choice still falls in the hand of the consumer. There are also in-app purchases that you can spend money on this game and countless others. A number of my friends have spent money on the game, I have not. These are the same friends that go out to lunch all the time and spend money at bars every weekend. The game can be a fun way to burn off some stress, like many other hobbies. Taken to the extreme, it can be addictive/time consuming/expensive. That’s the choice of the consumer.
Ah Pokemon Go, the game that has made the “lazy” generation get outside. I do not have the game but my friends have played it a lot and they walk crazy amounts of miles to do all the task. This makes many people lose some calories but at the same time it increases spending as they buy water or food on their journey. Are there better things to do with your time? Absolutely but lets be real, nobody works 24/7. I think playing this game for maybe an hour a day is perfectly fine.
Haha we’re just so lazy right???? 🙂
Yeah I agree – as long as you are cool with your place in life, play all you want. Like I mentioned in my other post a while back – it’s the people that whine and complain about their career and finances who should probably reconsider their free time. But…I know people don’t like to hear that haha
Hi Stefan, everyone to their own thing. And everything in moderation no matter what your ‘time out ‘ preference may be. Look, if people are getting out and about who would other be sitting on their bum playing video games, I say good on them. It’s better than nothing.
Balance has always been something I speak about. Along with not teaching proper financial education (though in the state of Missouri, it’s now mandatory to take personal finance to graduate from high school), they don’t teach the concept of balance. We all grew up with the phrase “work hard, play hard” and I feel that mentality has just spiraled out of control! I see it as a cook. So many of my co workers are alcoholics, drug addicts, etc because we work crazy hours and have crazy fast paced jobs that they then feel they need to do something extreme to either unwind or keep the adrenaline rush going. And it’s not just work. You see this extreme “all or nothing” concept through every aspect of our culture. People diet like crazy, bing eat and then feel guilty. Religion shows no real concept of grey area. I think the only reason why I haven’t gone down that road is because I grew up in an Italian family where they really stuck to the old European concept of everything in moderation.
This is a really good point, balance IS key. I was the kid in high school getting a 3.5gpa while working a part-time job and playing a sport, while some of my friends were killing themselves to get 3.7’s and do nothing but study. It’s completely possible to work a full-time job, do other productive things in your spare time, while still having time to re-charge and have some leisure. Taking some time to do nothing every once in awhile doesn’t mean you aren’t a hard worker or won’t be successful.
Couldn’t agree more. Moderation is the key here. When it becomes a compulsive obsession is where the problem lies. At the end of the day, playing Pokémon Go for a couple of hours to relax is far more healthy than many of the alternatives.
Hey Martin,
You’re completely right! Just doing the 9-5 job just won’t cut it. We all have the same amount of time each day and year. It’s up to you/us to decide what you want to do with that time. Will you do something you truly enjoy? Or perhaps do something to build for your future life?
It’s important to have some time to relax and recharge, but if you’re constantly ignoring improving your life, then you will never improve your life. I hope between doing my further education, doing our blog and investing young will see us become successful 🙂 I haven’t played a proper game for quite a while now 🙁 – I used to be a huge gamer when I was younger and I’ve kept a lot of them.
Tristan
Got it in one, Tristan. That was the whole point of the article and of M$M’s one as well. If you want to spend significant amounts of your valuable time playing games, don’t complain that life is handing you a bum deal.
I don’t get the Pokemon herd, especially when the cattle are disruptive. A disturbing local report said they’ve crossed the line here “poking” around cemeteries. A mother of a stillborn child buried in a Catholic cemetery was quite upset, rightfully, to hear antics were happening around her son’s gravesite.
The herd mentality is rampant when it comes to finances, true. I understand the peer pressure for some who feel they have to wear the same kind of clothing, inhabit the same size house, and drive a vehicle as pricey as their friends. But they should just remember the lament of every mother who has lived with teenagers – “If you’re friends jumped of a bridge would YOU jump too?”
Nice one Mrs Groovy. Exactly what my mother use to say although I have ‘jumped off a few bridges’ in my time . Seemed like a good idea at the time, following the herd. Then you’re meant to wise up……hopefully.
Very interesting. Following the herd in most areas of life will only get ‘herd-like’ results. Haven’t followed the herd since my 20s so I ain’t about to start now! My results are my motivation.
Exactly. Keep your own course. It sounds like the better option.