The Dark Side of Virtual Reality

It’s hard to believe that in the next year, Virtual Reality (VR) will become a mainstream way of consuming entertainment. With the release of Oculus Rift VR goggles, people are starting to see how they can use VR to transport themselves to faraway places or put themselves into situations they would otherwise never deal with. Now, companies are beginning to expand, and VR is slowly being incorporated into video games and social media. While these advances may be both extraordinary and brilliant, they can also have negative side effects and cause new barriers to arise in our society.

Technology has had extreme advancements within the past decade. Mobile technology and the invention of social media are just a few of the milestones that have been reached. Ironically, because of social media, many people have become disconnected from the world around them, and have instead become so attached to their phones, that they have not been able to put them down and have decent face to face conversations. This has become an issue in our society today, and this type of disconnection has the potential to reach new heights with the use of VR.

By using VR, people run the risk of having further disconnection from the real world. Many people already find themselves so immersed with video games and social media that they lose touch with reality. Don’t believe me? In the beginning of the year, CNN reported that a 32-year-old man died after a 3-day gaming binge at an internet café in Taiwan. This was the island’s second death of an online gamer this year. In a similar fashion, The Lancet, an online medical journal, shares a story of a pregnant woman who needed to be hospitalized after having severe pain in her wrists from sending text messages for 6 hours straight. Technology like the Oculus Rift that promises to immerse players even deeper into games and social media will likely increase these trends of excessive gaming and social media addiction.

In addition to how it feeds our addictions, VR also poses a threat to how we interact with one another. If and when this technology becomes a part of our lives, more and more people may prefer to spend most of their time in virtual space. Such escapism can already be seen in how we watch television and movies – but as VR continues to grow, the worlds being built will become more and more realistic. With this technology, people may choose to replace their unhappy reality with a better, more enjoyable virtual one.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that people should avoid this technology altogether. I love video games, and I believe that incorporating VR can bring the potential to having amazing experiences and social applications. It may seem a little far-fetched, but companies are working on making it possible to interact with friends in a virtual space either by watching movies together in a virtual theater, or taking exotic tours together from the comfort of your living room. However, people should be wary that even though these experiences are amazing, they are virtual experiences, in the end. I believe that this technology should be used as a way to bring us closer, as opposed to more isolated.