Slashdot Mirror
Pokemon Go Could Add 2.83 Million Years To Users' Lives, Says Study (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNNMoney: A new study from Microsoft Research found that the most interested Pokemon Go players took 26% more steps than before using the app. The largest behavior changes were seen among sedentary users. No matter their gender, age, weight or lifestyle, Pokemon Go users began to move more -- taking an extra 194 steps a day once they started using the app. (That's the equivalent of walking roughly one tenth of a mile.) The researchers estimate that Pokemon Go has added 144 billion steps to U.S. physical activity. That's 143 roundtrips to the moon. The study was published online this month in the Cornell Library University. Since activity reduces mortality risks, the researchers estimated that Pokemon Go could add 2.83 million years to the life expectancy of an assumed 25 million U.S. users. Based off research that showed walking reduces mortality, the researchers calculated that Pokemon Go users who continued to walk an extra 1,000 steps a day would enjoy 41.4 days of additional life expectancy. The Microsoft scientists examined data shared by 31,793 users of Microsoft Band, a wearable device, and Bing, the company's search engine. They compared the movement data from the wearables with users' web search queries. Pokemon Go players were identified by web searches that indicated they were playing the game. The Microsoft team also looked at four of the most popular health apps on Apple and Android devices. They found these apps had little impact on a person's behavior. The activity levels of Pokemon Go users changed far more.
Eat a vegetable-based diet and you'll life a lot longer.
Longer, maybe, but also a whole lot more miserable.
If there's an award for the most misleading title on a Slashdot post, this one has to be in the running. It could have at least said HOW MANY users' lives would be enhanced to the tune of 2.83 million years. I suppose people won't read articles unless they contain a ridiculous amount of exaggeration.
Did the study also consider that people might be using a fake positioning system to just virtually walk around?
Let's subtract all the people who get shot, mauled or otherwise physically harmed for hunting Pokemon where they shouldn't, along with those smart individuals who become victims of accidents because they wanted to hunt some Pokemon where no smart human would willingly go (like, say, the middle of a busy interstate). How many years older do we then get?
Or is that ok because it only weeds out the ... let's say less viable individuals?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm here to tell you, in three million years you'll be dead.
Will I really? Well what do you suggest? Give up white bread? More rougage?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Great ... I'll let you know if it's true in the year 285050 o there abouts
Eat a vegetable-based diet and you'll life a lot longer.
That may not be true, but it will certainly seem that way.
I eat cruelty free meat. I take my animals to bed with me and smother them as they orgasm so they die at the moment of ultimate pleasure.
Important kitchen tip: A salad tastes a whole lot better if you, just before eating it, replace it with a steak.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Doc, how can I live longer?
You drink?
Nope
Smoke?
Nope
Eat red meat?
Nope
Screw around?
Nope
Then why the hell do you want to live longer?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Did the researchers take into account how many Pokemon Go morons walked in front of cars, buses, and other vehicles while playing the game.
I personally saw a Pokemon Go idiot fall down a flight of stairs. She twisted her ankle and injured another innocent bystander.
It's a dialogue. How would you propose I should post it sensibly so I needn't add an explanation to the joke?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I prefer my vegans to be free range and grass fed organic.
Also, crappy summary and title.
... but I don't want to live 2.83 million years.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
If you divide the distance walked by the number of days since I started playing... which includes many days where I didn't play, and some where I played 8 hours. ;) :D
Lost 15 lb and slimmed down considerably!
Also met two really cute geek girls who were happy to let me play with their, ahem, pokemon!
Grab them by the pokemon I say!
Important kitchen tip: A salad tastes a whole lot better if you, just before eating it, replace it with a steak.
Of course it does.
Steak is concentrated salad.
How about a study on how many people have died because of Pokemon? You have to take the good with the bad. Those "extra years" come at a price.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
When Niantic decided that all players with rooted devices were no longer welcome, that pretty much ended the game for me. I was playing it with my spouse, and getting more exercise, but I shouldn't have to jump through yet more hoops to use this product. I'd do just as well reading a book while walking.
Some devices are rooted by default, some by choice. That alone is not an indicator of cheating.
I'll simply stay a second order vegetarian. I eat animals that are vegetarian.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Well, there may be a small health benefit to walking 1/10th of a mile. But, interest in the app will fade (HAS faded), and even that little bit of walking will subside. Getting and taking care of a dog will have a person doing a LOT more walking, AND will encourage social interaction... unlike Pokey-Go, which keeps users focused on their devices. I want to see some stats about the rate of Pokey-Go users becoming victims of crime... as the first rule of personal safety in public spaces is to maintain situational awareness, which these players are sorely missing.
How do you spot a vegan?
Don't worry. They'll tell you.
Umm...Generally when something is published by your own school's library, that's what's known as a vanity-publication. That means this study did not undergo peer review. Add the fact that it's funded by Microsoft, who has a massive potential vested interest in the future of AR gaming. Something tells me there's gonna be some gorgeous cherry-picking of data and referenced sources going on in this thing.
The only reason Westerners eat animals is habit, taste or convenience, which is NOT reason enough to kill an animal.
The only reason why we eat animals is because we're omnivores. And eating too much meat is just as bad as eating too many vegetables. Actually eating too many vegetables is in many cases worse, since you lose out on essential things that will keep you alive that you can't get from plants. Though you can get some of them from eating mineral rich dirt.
If you really want to live a long life, you live a balanced life. If you want to die a short life in agony, you go to the extreme at either end. FYI: Heart disease has many factors(from environmental to genetic), the main cause of it in the west is we spend too much time on our asses.
Om, nomnomnom...
The summary states, "Go users ... (take) an extra 194 steps a day...".
It goes on to state that the Microsoft Research researchers, "calculated that Pokemon Go users who continued to walk an extra 1,000 steps a day would enjoy 41.4 days of additional life expectancy."
Um, those both may be true, but how does +194 steps equate to +1000 steps? Does the added life expectancy scale linearly (each user living an extra 8.03 days on average)? And, as others have noted, shouldn't they subtract the time spent playing it?
Same here. I'm still not sure why the decided to kick out the rooted users. Some people speculated it had to do with cheaters, but there's no way that's the case since most of them were running stock. Ah well, freed up some space on my phone for games developed by better devs.
Is all your grain hand-harvested? Then it's probably not "cruelty-free" - there's absolutely no way a hundred-acre field can be harvested without knowing that some mouse or snake has been run through the combine with your "cruelty-free" grains. Mowing a field of alfalfa can reduce the population of small rodents by up to 50%.
Stop deluding yourself.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Of course, you could just go to a chili festival...
This, combined with your name, begs for a topical reply. But I just don't want to go there.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
This, combined with your name, begs for a topical reply. But I just don't want to go there.
Suffice to say that if a festival combines chili, salsa, and fruit salsa you might want to consider restricting yourself to just one or two of those categories, and if two, then not the first and third.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
... the ones who could probably profit the most from the additional steps will most likely find it too tiring and will use GPS spoofing instead. ...
Also the study doesn't take into account the added risks to people not used to being in the actual world and moving about, which will as a result to the strange and dangerous surroundings fall prey to all those dangers present there. Like cars, bikes, air,
I think I take more than 194 steps in the morning from getting up to fixing breakfast ... but then, I don't live in the US ... ;)
These are users who are already using and wearing Microsoft Band before they started playing Pokemon Go, so they were already worried about their fitness, and already had a device to monitor this
So playing Pokemon Go encourages people to walk more than a fitness monitoring band... and so these are useless ...?
Puteulanus fenestra mortis
Even if walking correlates with longer life,
more walking will not necessarily cause longer life.
I liked this vanity card from Chuck Lorre (shown at the end of Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, etc.)
#536
I've thought long and hard about this vanity card. What I'm about to say is going to upset quite a few people. Some of them are my friends. Or perhaps, after reading this, my former friends. But I can't let that stop me from speaking my mind. It's time to say out loud what I know in my heart to be true. Vegetarians and vegans are mobility bigots. They believe that if a life form doesn't move, it's fair game to be killed and eaten. They hold a deep seated prejudice against plants, or, as plants prefer to be called, "We Who Stand Still." This hateful philosophy is predicated on the idea that movement equals consciousness, or, if you will, a certain level of sacredness. To put it simply, if it walks, flies, or swims, or comes from something that does, it should not be ingested. If it doesn't, yum-yum. Of course when you ask vegetarians and vegans, they say no, they're only opposed to eating flesh. But what could be more fleshy than a mushroom? Or avocado? Or eggplant? The ugly truth is they are cowards who murder and devour anything that can't run away. These people, who act so high and mighty, so spiritually elevated, have somehow constructed a style of cuisine that would justify them eating my Uncle Murray, a man known for sitting still for hours at a time, staring at a TV that is turned off. So the next time you order a salad consider this: Prince told us that doves cry. But what if kale does too?
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
It's pretty sad the amount of negative, hateful and bitter comments from the users here. We get so many negative news nowadays and in the end all some people do is focus on the negative.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I was hoping it was a momentary flash in the pan that outlived it's buzz about a month ago. Does anyone out of junior high school play pokeman? Anyway, sign me up for another 2 million years of life! Sure beats drinking synthetic blood and sleeping all day....
I remember reading that sometimes exercise extends your life for the same period as doing the exercise. So in a sense yes, you could live longer but at the same time it's not really anymore time especially if you don't like exercising. So if playing Pokemon Go is fun and enjoyable for you and it extends your life by the same amount, that's pretty much a win win in my book. Note, I'm not a Pokemon Go player myself (don't want a dataplan on my cellphone) but I don't find Pokemon Go players on average annoying, just amusing. If it makes you happy and you live longer, that can't be a bad thing right?
Superb trolling. Big haul too I see.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Cut out the inflammatory foods (grains), and you won't have to worry so much about clogging up your arteries. Without the cracks and crevices in your arteries, there's nowhere for the buildup to take hold.
Also, plant based protein is not the same as animal based, and, as carnivores, we need animal based protein.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
Sorry, I meant omnivores.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
Doc, how can I live longer?
You drink?
Nope
Smoke?
Nope
Eat red meat?
Nope
Screw around?
Nope
Then why the hell do you want to live longer?
Those are artificial highs -- temporary and often harmful. There are plenty of natural highs that are worth living for.
Such as?
Marijuana
Well now, aren't you just a ray of sunshine.
So do they get to split that 2.83 million between them? That would be 2830 years each.
Have gnu, will travel.
"Cruelty-free" is a buzzword thrown around by militant vegans. Spend time with vegans who don't proselytize the virtues of his or her lifestyle choice, and the entire experience is generally pleasant.
OMG facts!
To get people to exercise, don't tell them to do exercise. Give them a fun thing to do that happens to involve physical activity but don't call it exercise as that's a chore. Walking to catch a Pokemon is not a chore, it's fun - and that you have to walk and walk and walk to get from one to the other, well, that's just part of the game.
Now I'm intrigued.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Lead by example.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Researchers estimate that Pokemon Go players have wasted 2.83 million years of their lives playing the game.....
love is just extroverted narcissism
When did we start measuring 1/10th miles as a physical achievement?
I suspect that we'd be surprised to how many people walking a few 10ths of a miles would be. When I got put on blood pressure medicine, the pharmacist asked if I could try walking and even just a few blocks would make a difference. I had to let her down by telling her I walk a mile and a half to work each way every day already. Yet, that there is attention to 1/10s of a mile or just a few blocks for ordinary walking, makes me think that it does matter for a significant slice of Americans.
Because rooted devices making spoofing GPS infinitely easier.
Just good veggie cooking
That's great. You should come over and cook some sides for me. It will go well with that sweet tasty bloody murder that I enjoy eating while staring at photographs of the deceased's orphaned offspring.
One of the problems with things like Apple Watch and other apps is that, in scientific studies, we find the existence of specific goals actually decreases exercise.
People will only do as much as they need to achieve the goal.
That said, Pokemon Go (of which I am level 23 Valiant) has a non-goal measurement. You hatch 2k 5k 10k eggs by walking distances, getting lesser amounts if you take transit ("going too fast" counts less), harvesting Poke Stops and catching wild and placed Pokemon.
I've noticed a big uptick in people hanging out at the waterfront parks to catch Pokemon, for example (it takes 400 Magikarp to evolve to a Gyardos). Or you can get Poke candy by adding a buddy (similar to the egg thing, the type of Poke buddy attracts the correct type of candy and also increases your chance of wild Pokemon of the type your buddy is).
So, the lack of a specific goal structure does obviate the usual decrease in exercise, as you are rewarded for activity but not too closely tied to specific goals.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
If you want to die a short life in agony, you go to the extreme at either end.
I worked with this girl who was, in my opinion, running herself to death. She has bad knees and feet anyway, and she was constantly training for marathons and 5Ks. She would come into work in pain so many times that I lost count. She is young, mid 30s, looks great, and is in great cardio-pulmonary shape, but her frame is breaking down. I asked her if it was worth being this "healthy" now and being a trainwreck when she is in her 60s. She said it was worth it.
I'll just try to, like you said, stick to a balanced life with diet and exercise. I may not look as good as she does now, but I'll catch up when I'm older.
This is not fake soy meat or whatever.
That's something I've never understood.
Tofu shaped like meat. It only taste like shit.
It's as if its only purpose is to be shaped like a sausage, so you don't feel outcast when you're on a diet but get invited to a BBQ, you still have a sausage-shaped object to put on the fire like everyone else.
To me this would sound just as mush stupid, if some butchers started to make redmeat shaped in the form of a red peperrni, so on the day you crave meat but were invited to a BBQ at some tree-hugin hippie vegans, you don't feel outcast and have a veggie-shaped object to put on the fire.
Stupid. Fake. Meat.
Even more so when the human culture DOES HAVE some very nice traditionnal cuisine which is tasty but is also meat-free.
(in India and in the middle east you can find quite a lot ot veggie dishes which actually taste good. Unlike the tofu sausages).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
On the other hand, the meat we eat has had to be fed quite a lot of time until the animal reached a good enough size and got slaughtered.
Thar's why more grains per kilogram of meat-food, than the equivalent grain-based dinner for the same human.
So not eating meat does decrease the amount of such harvesting accident for mice and and snakes (simply by needing less grain to feed the human, rather than needing more grain to feed the animal, until you have enough of the animal to feed said human).
(I personally happen not to eat a lot of grain (bread, pasta, and other carbohydrate food) anyway... so I can be proud to cause a little bit less combine-induced cruelty to mice and snake... at least toward them...)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
centralqq