Iāve been thinking about the metaverse lately, the proposition of a not-so-distant future where we might just be interacting more through virtual reality than we already are.
At first, I felt indifferent towards it.
I knew it was going to come sooner or later, but thereās something about it thatās sort of saddened me.
I picture a world where weāre all wearing VR goggles daily, our eyes glued to screens and our minds dependent on simulated experiences.
And I canāt help but think how accurate films like āReady Player Oneā might be, films that have already pictured dystopian futures where a āmetaverseā is widely adopted.
(Without spoiling the movie, it showed how peopleās lives were worth more in the virtual world than in real life.)
I donāt mean to come across as a pessimist, Iām a big fan of technology and believe for a large part, the world is a better place each and every day because of its rapid evolution.
But what happens if we stop seeking real connections and settle for virtual ones, instead?
What happens if our screen time goes up and our time in the real world goes down?
Doesnāt that sound pretty sad?
Itās difficult to profit off real-world experiences. There are so many practical difficulties to gaining a significant market share of attention.
But a virtual reality is much easier for companies to target, gamify and abuse that attention, allowing them to profit off our manufactured addictions.
Iām lucky to have grown up without social media. Iāve seen how itās insidiously wrapped its claws around us and perverted our attention.
Yet children these days grow up thinking that the virtual world is an ingrained part of the human experience, how can they unlearn that?
The real-world experience is such a nebulous flurry of human experiences, emotions and relationships.
We could all live a āfull lifeā and still not scratch the surface, and whilst Iām not saying that technology necessarily detracts from that experience, but at which point do we admit that some aspects of it may cause irreparable harm?
Thereās still so much to think about when it comes to how this whole āmetaverseā will play out. Yet, I donāt think it's a train that we can slow down.
Iām sure Iāll touch on this topic again, but Iāll leave you with my guiding light on it:
If we wouldnāt want our children to get attached to it, shouldn't the same apply to us?