What takes your fancy?
We’ve got everything from fighting zombies, to playing as a super secret spy, or walking alongside titans of old. Plunge yourself into a world where the way you interact with pixels feels incredibly real … maybe too real for some people!
This is the power of virtual reality (VR) — defined as a “three-dimensional, computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person.” This artificial space is created through leveraging advanced technology ranging from motion sensors, headsets, goggles, and haptic feedback devices to deliver a sensory-rich experience.
VR has revolutionised how people perceive digital environments, and has provided various avenues for digital experiences to be enhanced. We live in an increasingly digital world, and VR transforms how we work, communicate, and have fun. Having felt the capabilities of current VR technology, I cannot understate how much I felt like I was truly existing in every scenario I tried, no matter how fantastical.
Although progressing in a variety of positive areas, I recognise that VR is not without its flaws, and it has the potential to cause severe harm to people. This is why it is crucial to understand the multifaceted implications of VR technology and how it affects the lives of everyday users in this current ‘digital society’.
Interconnectedness
First, it is important to be aware of our place within the digital world we live in.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the concept of everyday digital objects being connected to the internet and one another, allowing them to constantly send and receive data. Fellow student Harry jokes in his blog that “there isn’t much nowadays which hasn’t been developed into a ‘smart device’”, but he’s not wrong — smart devices such as Ring doorbells, smart clocks, or the Amazon Echo are commonplace globally. Then, in addition to IoT devices, think about how many people own personal devices:
- Use any public transport, people have their faces down staring at a screen with headphones on.
- Walk into a lecture hall, you’d be lucky to find people writing with pen and paper.
Every digital citizen will at some point in their day be connected to the internet, with it being incredibly rare to actually not be connected at all. Our smart devices are ubiquitous, our connections with other people mediated through screens. It is estimated that in 2023, over 5.3bn people had a connection to the internet — more than half of the world connected and watching videos, browsing the web, sending messages, etc.
Technology is king. Although this shouldn’t come as a shock (especially as you’re currently reading this blog post)
How does VR fit in?
It is unsurprising that VR has become an exciting addition to our digital society. Its application is very broad and the positive advancements it has brought can be seen in various industries.
Medical Industry
In their journal article, Pai Liu et al. discussed VR’s application in the medical world, and identified that imagery of nature helped to increase positive emotions of older individuals and reduced mental disorders. The issue here is that older adults may have reduced body functions that would make them less capable of perceiving/experiencing said imagery.
This is where VR gets exciting — Liu concluded that from tests where elderly individuals viewed nature-based 360-degree live-action videos through a VR headset, VR could provide any space as accessible for older people. VR can act as an innovative intervention for elderly people with psychological issues by providing a 100% simulated but relaxing and beneficial experience from the comfort of their own room.
Mahtab and Egorova discuss VR in relation to training in healthcare, highlighting how VR provides digital and remotely-accessible simulated training modules, allowing medical professionals to both learn and visualise procedures (e.g. heart operations) in risk-free but immersive environments.
Nevertheless, I value their excellent commentary on the challenges of VR in this space, highlighting technical challenges such as the prevention of cyber sickness. More importantly, a bulk of the studies on the successes of VR in healthcare do not follow a standardised methodology, meaning the validity of some claims may be quite unreliable and therefore harm the positivity of VR.
Education
VR also has applications in education, with a report by Domingo et al. concluding that in a study with students, just over half reported positive experiences citing “increased meaningful social interactions and reduced social anxiety”. Using VR to help students learn is a massive opportunity, but again it is not without issues, as most students encountered technical difficulties, suggesting that VR technology is still not the finished article.
The danger of data
The biggest implication of the adoption of VR in our lives is that it is another area where our data can be collected.
Bormida rightly claims that “we live in the era of Big Data” — governments and other organisations have so many tools to collect and store people’s data, ranging from race, religion, interests, and health information. VR technology, like most digital devices, will require you to share data to access it. All VR developers will have a privacy policy, but the thing with VR is that the types of data it collects can be extremely personal — for example, your gait, biometric data, and how you talk, or how much you eat and drink. Cybersecurity giant Kaspersky echoes this sentiment by highlighting how in VR, an individual uses the same hand gestures as they would in real life, meaning a hacker could capture this data and recreate that person’s PIN.
This could develop into a serious issue if a developer suffers a massive data breach, allowing malicious actors to access sensitive information about you. Take for example the Metaverse, a project by Meta to create a sort of digital utopia where people can meet up with friends, buy property, or attend concerts digitally. While experiencing the Metaverse, all your data is constantly being collected, and who’s to stop Meta selling it off to the highest bidder as they’ve done before? The ethics of big data will always be in contention with VR, as companies must strike a balance between providing a seamless service and ensuring consumer data is ethically used.
So is VR good or bad?
I am a big believer in VR and I can see how it positively affects various industries. Being able to traverse 3D generated worlds as if you’re there is fantastic. But I fully recognise VR’s limitations — not only on the technical side, but on the privacy and ethics side. It’s critical that users are aware that VR technology is always susceptible to data breaches, and the types of data it collects about people are highly personal and sensitive.
Reflection
As a final year law student, I thought it imperative to try find some way at university to develop my digital skills and gain explicit knowledge of how pervasive technology is nowadays. I have hugely enjoyed this module as it was both interesting and helped me achieve both of my goals.
Blog Writing
One key skill I enjoyed developing was writing informally for an online audience. Honestly, it was hugely refreshing to be able to step away from the formal, methodical, and sometimes convoluted style of writing law essays full of statutes and case law. I really enjoyed expressing my personality in how I wrote my posts, adding my own flair wherever I could. I liked the challenge of attributing images or videos in this format, as I had never fully understood the importance of copyright. I’m always thinking critically in my own degree, so it was nice to keep practicing the skill and honing it in Digisoc. In particular, I liked how the assessments were structured — beginning with Digisoc1 to build on foundational skills and finishing with Digisoc3 to show off what I’ve been able to learn.
View on Society
As I went through each module, I found that some of my existing views remained the same, but some changed drastically. Aside from VR, I particularly enjoyed the module on the individual, identity and ethics. I have always been wary of what I post on social media as I understand that digital footprints cannot be removed. This module addressed this by discussing the interesting Article 17 GDPR statute and the right to be forgotten — a hugely contentious issue, but in my opinion I think that there must be a balance between what you can and cannot erase about yourself. Going through this post helped me develop this conclusion, especially seeing the example of Mhairi Black. I found the poll interesting too, with 81.8% of voters agreeing that the online actions of our younger selves should be treated differently as we grow older. I think some actions are not forgivable and should be scrutinised, such as hate speech or death threats. But, I now fully recognise that some people do truly change their views and regret their past actions, which is why it may be important to understand that young people are bound to do something stupid.
For the Future
Going forward, I will definitely continue to keep an eye on this space. With the rise of generative AI, technology will keep growing and growing to dangerous levels. As an aspiring lawyer, I think that to future-proof myself from any pervasive technologies that could run me out the door, I must continue to be critical about any new technologies that show themselves as only bringing positive developments to the world.
