Augmented

Augmented reality (AR) was the major tech trend of 2016. Pokémon Go became the fastest growing mobile app ever. Microsoft released the developer pack for the HoloLens. Magic Leap, an ultra-secretive AR startup, raised almost a billion dollars to work on who knows what.

The hype around AR is justified; if it goes mainstream, it will completely change the way we interact with the world on a daily basis. In contrast, virtual reality (VR — think Oculus, Vive) won’t be so revolutionary.

Here’s why: AR is unobtrusive in the same way phones are unobtrusive. The mobile revolution was huge because we were suddenly able to carry around powerful technology without much hassle, and access it at a moment’s notice. AR will be similar to this, once the required headwear and accessories become lightweight enough. With some minor adjustments we’ll be able to interact with the virtual world without being distracted from the real one. AR will be even easier to interact with than a smartphone — all our messages, news, weather, and so on will be constantly accessible in the periphery of our vision.

VR, on the other hand, is extremely obtrusive. Even if VR headsets become lighter and untethered from PCs, the fundamental problem with them is that VR is blinding, and hence distracting. It will certainly become a popular tool for the most suitable applications, such as gaming and education. But it won’t alter the average human life as profoundly as smartphone technology did, or as AR will.

There’s a false dichotomy here in that AR and VR could actually work well together. It’s not hard to imagine an AR device that transitions into a VR mode by blacking out the real world. My point still holds, though, because people would use the AR mode more than the VR mode. Ultimately, the real world will remain alluring enough that the virtual world will have to take a back seat (assuming the plot of Ready Player One isn’t actually prophecy).

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