Life can be tough sometimes, to a point where daydreaming or living outside of reality can be an outlet to not think about the hardships in life, but how far or how long is too much? At what stage do we need to get to in order to realize that living in a virtual world for a lengthy amount of time becomes very unhealthy.
I had a friend who had a boyfriend who would just come over her house and play video games on her large screen TV. Although he was physically present, mentally, he was gone, into the video game. I admit, playing video games can be fun, but just as other things, it can become an addiction. It takes one’s mind out of reality, especially if it involves wearing VR goggles.
Now, instead of a game just being a source of entertainment, Facebook or now, Meta, wants their users to live a life outside of reality. If you’ve seem Facebook’s video where Mark Zuckerberg is introducing Facebook’s transition as now, Meta, he presents himself in a virtual environment with his own avatar. His avatar goes into another virtual space with other avatars, associated with other real people. There’s a clip where other avatars meet up to celebrate a birthday party in virtual reality. What’s a birthday party without a real cake to eat or making goofy memories with friends in person? Will this younger generation be making memories with their avatar friends in virtual reality? The video is very troubling in a sense with the question of, what is this technology going to do to the younger generation? Rather than meeting their friends in person, they will meet virtually, in a metaverse. This virtual world can become a constant outlet to mentally and visually leave reality.
Will their identity be their avatar and the house they live in a virtual home and what happens when they step outside of their virtual world, will it be a blow to real life? I can’t imagine how much damage Meta/ Facebook will be doing to this younger generation, but it doesn’t matter to them, because they will be profiting off the hours that users will spend online and what they will be purchasing to stay in their metaverse. There’s exploration inside a pre-programmed virtual world, but no hands on innovation or creativity. Take the internet away and what are kids left with?
vange 