Will Oremus of Slate reports that Google has just purchased the company Oculus VR, which makes a headset that allows people to immerse themselves in a completely different world.
For instance, instead of emailing or texting your family in another country, you can put on the Oculus headset and pretend that you are having lunch with them, or playing a game of soccer with them. The headset also offers unbelievable potential for gamers who want a real-life experience. CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg hopes that in he future the headset will allow people to shop in virtual stores or consult with the Doctor, all from the comfort of their own home.
I think it is paradoxical that this isolating tool is being called by Mark Zuckerbeg “the most social platform ever”. It remains to be seen whether people will buy into this as a “social” tool, or if they will be bothered by the way it isolates people from one another while purporting to bring them together. While I see a lot of positive and wonderful uses of a tool like this, I am also loath to see people retreat further into an alternate electronic reality rather than living out their real lives with other real people. Like the article mentions, it is already bad enough that you cannot go to dinner without your friends texting through half of it, or attend a concert where the spectators are just happy to enjoy the show rather than holding up their cell phones the whole time. I’m not sure whether to welcome this new technology or turn my back on it.
For instance, instead of emailing or texting your family in another country, you can put on the Oculus headset and pretend that you are having lunch with them, or playing a game of soccer with them. The headset also offers unbelievable potential for gamers who want a real-life experience. CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg hopes that in he future the headset will allow people to shop in virtual stores or consult with the Doctor, all from the comfort of their own home.
I think it is paradoxical that this isolating tool is being called by Mark Zuckerbeg “the most social platform ever”. It remains to be seen whether people will buy into this as a “social” tool, or if they will be bothered by the way it isolates people from one another while purporting to bring them together. While I see a lot of positive and wonderful uses of a tool like this, I am also loath to see people retreat further into an alternate electronic reality rather than living out their real lives with other real people. Like the article mentions, it is already bad enough that you cannot go to dinner without your friends texting through half of it, or attend a concert where the spectators are just happy to enjoy the show rather than holding up their cell phones the whole time. I’m not sure whether to welcome this new technology or turn my back on it.