Accessibility and the Metaverse
While markets continue to be in turmoil, it’s time to consider the more positive elements of web3 and how we can build towards a beneficial environment for all. Beyond profit margins, there are some important changes occurring as we move towards an increasingly digital future — that will drastically alter how we relate to one another and the options available to us across all sectors of modern life.
One aspect of web3 already proving to have such a positive impact, is that our digital worlds provide avenues for accessibility and inclusivity for many people who otherwise feel shut out of various parts of society.
Forecast by a recent McKinsey report to generate upwards of $5trillion dollars of economic activity by 2030, the metaverse is a key part of how we can create a more accessible society. One that will be open to an increasingly wide range of people as the technology becomes more refined and affordable.
This accessibility begins with being able to explore new places, events and experiences. Most of us take these things for granted — we can visit a museum exhibition or art gallery, attend a concert, or take part in social events as we please. But for many people, this isn’t the case. Whether it’s because they aren’t able to physically leave their homes easily, or they find such environments overwhelming and difficult to engage with, there are millions of people for whom digital worlds become a lifeline that allows them to engage with the cultural aspects of society as well as find a place within social groups they would otherwise be shut out from.
There’s more to this than entertainment, of course, but it is about the creative and experiential elements of society — art, music, architecture, writing, even through to things like sport that seem like a basic experience for most of us but can be difficult to access for many. It also provides more access to important structural functions of society, such as education, health care and various forms of therapy that can change the way we think about such elements of our lives.
This isn’t just a positive aspect of the metaverse for those who might be differently abled, either, but also opens up connections around the globe based on geography, cultural boundaries and even language as our ability to translate in real-time becomes more embedded in these virtual worlds. We can not only choose who we want to be, but we have an increasingly wide range of tools to engage with others doing the same.
There are elements that need to be improved, of course, particularly around accessibility to the technology required to enter these worlds and how they allow for different kinds of functioning. This is why we can’t just see the metaverse as belong to a single medium — such as VR with its prohibitively expensive entry point — but more as the notion that there is a layer of digital connectedness that we can become immersed in through different avenues in order to engage with others reaching out to do the same.
So while we worry about our gains and wonder when the market will finally turn our way again (which it will), we can use our time to focus on these kinds of positive outcomes that are becoming stronger and more available every day. We can spend our time not only learning about them, but helping to build them in whatever way we might be able to contribute — ensuring that we retain an ‘accessibility first’ mindset to how we see the metaverse developing down different avenues.
With each project that brings new people on board and allows us to try new things, we open up the wide diversity of human experience to a larger and larger circle of people. Eventually allowing all of us, wherever and whoever we may be, to immerse ourselves in the creative and experiential diversity of humanity in its near-infinite variety of forms.
