New App Feeds Millennial Nostalgia, Network Traffic

July 14, 2016

By Leah Heilbrunn

Millennial Editor
AGL eDigest

Millennials have never needed to say, “Wow, I haven’t seen that since I was a kid!” Their favorite cartoons are available for streaming on Netflix, generations of Gameboys are still stowed in a nearby drawer, and any type of merchandise they may need is available on Etsy.com. The massive amount of information available to Millennials ensures ever-open access to the nostalgia of their youth.

The recent release of Pokémon Go, an app that uses augmented reality to simulate a Pokémon master quest through smartphone cameras, has recently tapped this Millennial nostalgia. And it’s not only become a sensation within the first 24 hours of its release, but it’s also iTunes’ highest-grossing app ever.

I attribute the success of Pokémon Go to a collision of the past and the future as augmented reality makes the childhood dream of finding/catching Squirtles and Pikachus come true. This kind of game also relies completely on a wireless connection to pinpoint location and connect to the server, which makes those little critters appear. Without wireless infrastructure, there wouldn’t be a new world full of Pokémon characters. The best way to the pockets of savvy Millennials seems to be through their hearts, via their wireless umbilical cord.

With Pokémon Go, users can walk around their neighborhoods and cities and see through their cameras the world around them overlaid with “found” Pokémon characters. Even as a casual fan of the original franchise, I have to admit: the app is just like living in the game.

So, while technological innovation continuously sets its sights on the futuristic, it could be also useful to look about 15-25 years into the past. Discover the dreams of those 1990s kids and make them reality with the tech of today.