Soon, your laptop will be old news. Here’s why

A beginners guide to virtual reality and all of its applications

Have you ever watched the movie Avatar? If not, check out the trailer.

The movie is basically about people that go to this planet, Pandora, to get expensive stones from a massive deposit, but focuses on one of the characters’ life driving an “Avatar.” And if you didn’t get it from the trailer, the whole idea is that each character lies in a closed space and almost goes to sleep, and then their avatar body wakes up. This movie easily makes my top 5. It’s such a cool concept to close your eyes and instantly be transported to another world, in another body.

But, obviously we don’t have the tech to travel to a faraway planet and genetically engineer a body that we can connect minds with.. just yet. But what if there was another way to instantly move to another world where you’d see floating mountains, use dragons instead of cars, learn about natives with a beautiful culture, fight to the death without getting a scratch, and experience it all without leaving your basement?

Well, what if I told you that there could be a way to do this without actually being on Pandora?

Welcome to the insane, endless world of VR.

What even is VR?

Before I start droning on with insanely long words that neither of us know the meaning of, let me start by explaining the basic basics of VR.

VR stands for Virtual Reality. It’s basically a type of technology that enables you to see something completely different from what’s in front of you. Imagine two tiny TVs in front of your eyes. They can be in the form of glasses, goggles, and more.

It’s an insanely booming industry that’s becoming more popular by the day, and it’s going to transform the market for the better. According to Leftronic as of July 5, 2022,

171 million people use VR technology.

And even more mind boggling: 70% of these people have purchased a game on their headset. Imagine the piles of cash these game companies are racking in.

So, clearly, VR is becoming increasingly used and popular, and its applications and possibilities are truly endless.

It can be used for all sorts of things, from playing video games with your friends to helping patients meditate or participate in therapies through the headset. I’m positive that, if you close your eyes for 20 seconds and think, you’ll be able to come up with at least one possible way to use VR in the real world.

Another quick new tidbit for you: AR is very similar to VR, but it stands for Augmented Reality. AR is different because VR basically transports you to a completely different world, whereas AR overlays images into what you already see. For example, if you’ve played Pokemon Go, that’s an example of AR. Snapchat filters are another example of it.

But amazing new inventions can’t just get where we want them to be in the blink of an eye, though I really wish they could. Here are some of the things that VR needs work on.

A thousand and one issues

Have you ever actually tried on a VR headset? I tried one on about a month ago, and man oh man, do I have some things to say.

Don’t get me wrong here, I think it was fantastic. I got to push around stars in one exercise, and in another I got to pick up tools and do wiring work. But, really, there were a lot of things that needed to be improved.

It. Was. Bulky.

When I say the headset was huge, I mean it was hugeee! After I took it off, I felt like it was still on my face, and my nose kept getting squished because of how heavy it was. I find it funny, because my parents are always talking about how the computers that they grew up with were the size of Mount Everest and the screen was round and tiny, but now a laptop is like than a centimeter thick. I bet that’s what’ll happen with VR goggles. They’re giant now, but will definitely shrink in the future. That’s what I hope, anyway.

Blurry and Pixelated

When you look through the goggles, it’s not the best quality. It almost looks like it’s an old movie: A bit too pixelated, blurry, and not very well designed and aesthetic.

Hard to Use

For someone who feels accomplished when she manages to put on her underwear without losing balance, I can say that VR goggles are hard to use. However, it might come a lot easier to someone who’s more experienced with the goggles, but I’m just speaking about myself. I found it hard to use the controllers, and the goggles themselves were hard to fit onto my face without falling or being uncomfortable.

So obviously, they’re not perfect. And it’ll take time to get some of the oldies on board, because my dad still yells at me for keeping my phone too close to my face, and soon I’ll be wearing VR goggles. But, as the goggles get more user friendly and generally easier to use, we’ll all hopefully get better at using them.

A girl can dream

Even though there are a ton of issues with VR goggles, it’s still fun to think about some wild future applications (#nerdyshowerthoughts 🤓)! Here are some of my weird but cool ideas for what VR could turn into:

• Real life, real time — Wouldn’t you love being able to experience an African safari in Tanzania, or riding a boat through the wonderous Niagara Falls, or walking across the Great Wall of China, all in a day without leaving the comfort of your home? And all the equipment you’d need is a pair of VR goggles.
• Watching a movie in VR — Imagine watching a horror movie where you turn around eerily and see a masked man creeping up to you, or something crazy like that?! And this wouldn’t just be with a simple 3D movie, this would be a fully immersive experience.
• Train the military using VR goggles to make scenarios feel realistic. The VR goggles also make for easier and safer gun training.

These are just some random ideas that I’ve thought of over time, but there are so many more potential things VR can help with, and soon, it will be taking over the world. And even now, VR is capable of so much, despite some of the problems it faces, including:

• AR in transportation — AR is used to show marks on the windshield that indicate where to go and can only be seen by the driver
• AR in interior design — See how new furniture will look in your room, and experiment with paint colours through your phone

• VR in healthcare — Helping patients with mental disorders such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, and more, along with things such as physiotherapy, through therapy with VR goggles
• VR in schools — Tour museums and feel cool statues all around the world with your friends, all without leaving your classroom.

• VR/AR in retail — You’d can use an app on your phone to direct you around a store in search for a specific product, and get descriptions and prices of products. You could even virtually try on an outfit that you liked but aren’t sure about without all of the trouble of changing your clothes!
• VR in gaming — Play fun video games with friends from all over the world with the feeling that you are actually in the game
• AR in safety — I got to experiment with a fire extinguisher AR device at a tech conference. It is fake and completely empty, but weighted to the heaviness of a real fire extinguisher. It has an iPad attached to the top, which displays a fire burning your surroundings on the camera. When you push down the lever, the camera shows extinguisher everywhere and the fire eventually burns out. It’s an interactive, fun, and safe way for people to learn how to use a fire extinguisher!
• VR/AR in metaverse — The metaverse is an amazing and fascinating application of VR. If you don’t know the metaverse, it’s basically a digital universe that we can take live in. An even more similar concept to Avatar, actually! It can be accessed like a video game through your laptop, phone, or tablet, or be used through VR goggles as an immersive experience. I watched this video to help me understand, it might work for you too!

Another really cool branch of VR that I find particularly interesting is called haptics. Haptics is a way for you to literally feel something that isn’t there. If you want a better description of it, check out my article here.

I think haptics is a really neat idea with a lot of potential. And, even better, it goes hand in hand with VR. So now you can enjoy all of the above applications, but with an added sense: touch. Imagine all of the new windows that this amazing field opens up! Here are some of my weird ideas that could, maybe one day, become something amazing.

• Doctor’s appointments made easy — Could you imagine being able to get in touch with your doctor without leaving your house, and they could feel you like a normal appointment? And even better, getting in touch with specialized doctors all around the world.
• Haptics during surgery — If a surgeon can’t be in the operation room, they can control the surgery using robots. But to make it even more accurate and precise, they can use haptics to feel the body without even being there.
• Feel before buying — Wouldn’t you love to be able to feel the clothes you’re interested in before buying them? And even better, when you try them on virtually, you could even feel the material on you to make sure it’s comfy.

Imagine using haptics to feel the mist on your skin in the Niagara Falls, touch the intricate carvings on the Taj Mahal, and get sand on your face in the Sahara Desert, all in a day, all at home.

VR is our future. It’s a field that will never stop growing, and it will only get better, more advanced, and more practical for human use. The potential it has is mind-blowing, and we need to use it.

Get ready: our reality is about to become virtual.