Virtual Reality (VR) Creeps Me Out
Reality is already nourishing enough. Leave it alone.
The VR craze has officially arrived. Soon in shopping malls, on e-commerce sites and morning talk shows we‘ll be inundated with paid for advertising promoting virtual reality as the future. The greatest thing since the smartphone.
Reality is the greatest thing!
VR companies will begin reporting on the various life changing applications the technology provides to the medical field, treatment for patient trauma and education. Most people will sit gleefully and lap it all up, wishing they had the money to fork over for a quality headset.
What won’t be reported on conveniently for the companies shelling out this new fad technology are the problems that will inevitably arise out of humanities adoption and interactivity with VR.
My point why VR should be treated with caution is blunt. My intention here is just to get my opinion across. This post began as an odd thought over the weekend and has now blossomed into this Medium blog. Undeniably VR is going to do good things in certain arenas. My gut feeling is that VR will eventually become detrimental to humanity.
Subway Zombies
Every once in a while I find myself playing a weird game on a packed subway where I count how many people are immersed in their phones versus those who aren’t.
Before beginning the game there is a moment I say a little prayer, hoping there are less people on their phones than those who are.
Sadly not once has this occurred.
Admittedly being on a subway is not exactly the most exhilarating part of ones day, us humans crave stimulation, hence being glued to your smartphone makes total sense. I don’t like that society as a whole and increasingly so, has become so fixated on smartphones. Seriously . Think long and hard about it. Technology has now become an addition literally billions of people are willingly participating in without ever once admitting there is a problem. It all began with the bloody radio.
Every-time I see a person reading a good old fashioned book. I smile. Hope is still alive.
My point is this. Smartphones have become so common place that were not realizing how detrimental they’ve become to community spirit, a smile to a passer by and loving-kindness. The smartphone revolution has made people reclusive and self absorbed.
Everyone wants to capture something amazing and when there not capturing the greatest moment of all time they need to check their smartphone to see what other amazing things have been captured by others. Life is not meant to be lived like this. My hands up. I am guilty.
The last thing humanity needs is taking the concept and popularity of the smartphone and slap it onto our faces. Wearable sharing? I don’t want to live in a world where others around me, existing in the same tangible reality as me are off in some media controlled digital universe. Day after day being coaxed and manipulated out of free will.
No. Thanks.
There is going to be an epidemic in the future where an alarming portion of youth become so absorbed in VR they will become incapable of dealing with everyday reality.
VR will become a nasty addiction for a lot of people who use the technology to deal with their dissatisfaction with real world circumstances instead of adopting realistic changes. VR will be an all too easy escape from reality.
Plug in and erase.
To me. It’s troubling. I hope I’m wrong.
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