The Dark Side of Virtual Reality
We love the technology of Virtual Reality for its magical ability to transport us to fantastic worlds, and in so doing, provide transformative experiences. As enthusiasts, we usually highlight these advantages, where VR technology can provide new perspectives on the structure of reality as well as on our selves. There is, however, potentially more to the effects of experiencing virtuality than the development of a positively, reconsidered relationship to reality. The technology may also potentiate the suffering of a disorder that impacts the way we relate to ourselves as well as reality itself.
Some time ago, I got an e-mail from a reader with a question. During the pandemic, his VR use had escalated drastically. He had played VRChat for up to 16 hours a day. Consequently, his dreams were located in virtual worlds, but more alarmingly, he had experienced symptoms of a particular disorder; each morning when he woke up, he could not identify whether he was in a VR or not. This effect did not subside for up to an hour — and by then, he was probably immersed in VR again.
This person experienced symptoms of what is referred to in the DSM as Depersonalization / Derealization Disorder (DPDR), a serious disorder where the sufferer experiences dissociation from their own mental processes and/or their surrounding reality.
