How virtual reality will change social relationships

No matter what those who like flesh-and-blood relationships say, the virtual is changing social approaches.

For example, Facebook has greatly changed the term friend. Meaning a deep connection, it has now expanded to contain all the acquaintances and people with a common interest without seeing each other in reality.

Besides, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg threw a monkey wrench into the works when he said during the Samsung conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in early 2016 that virtual reality was the next step for social networks.

The new social dimension

The statement was not innocent. After all, Facebook bought the Oculus Rift project for $2 billion. So it would be easy to think that Mr. Zuckerberg's approach is just a way to reassure investors about the potential of virtual reality. And yet, he gave examples like being able to practically relive a child's first steps on the spot, immerse yourself in a 360-degree photo shared by your friends or literally meet and chat in conference rooms with colleagues or family members.

For many workers, virtual reality is a way to get the most out of their jobs.

For many workers in the virtual reality field, this is a conceivable future in the coming years. Especially since, contrary to what one might think, low-end virtual reality models cost less to produce than smartphones. Yet, when you consider that 3 billion devices have already been purchased worldwide, it's easy to conclude that this technology has the potential to expand rapidly. While virtual reality is currently made up of headsets, companies are increasingly busy creating smaller models equivalent to standard vision glasses.

Second Life creator Philip Rosendale strongly supports Zuckerberg's comments. He is working with his company to design virtual meeting places whether for political, sports or other purposes.

The company is also working on the development of a virtual meeting place.

Real-world implications

It must be said that virtual reality is now having real impacts on humans. It's no longer just a potential way to create immersive video games or bring interactivity to classrooms. The contribution is more concrete in bangs and sciences that require real-world contact. And here, it's not just a few technophiles who have decided to use technology to, for example, ask for the hand of their bride.

In therapeutic medicine, virtual reality is used to distract burn patients from the sensation of pain. With military personnel returning from missions, virtual reality is used to establish whether brain damage, concussion or injury sequelae remain. The interest for doctors is that the virtual environment is totally controlled by the medical team. An easier way to check a patient's reactions.

In behavioral psychology, this technology would make it possible to confront a person with their fears and without putting them in a situation where they would actually feel in danger. Even autism specialists are using these tools to teach autistic children to connect with the people around them. As the CEO of Beloola summarizes, the age of the Web provides access to knowledge, the age of virtual reality will be one of experience.

A heavy or ephemeral trend?

Then, virtual reality would really be a vector of social links with impacts in real life. Many believe in it. So much so that even generalist media such as major television channels are starting to look for the implementation of this technology as soon as it becomes more popular. Already, the "social TV", the television using social networks would be gradually abandoned in favor of what would be called the "Virtual reality TV". Especially as 360-degree cameras become more and more commercially available.

Except that the question arises: will virtual reality really catch on en masse? Because the same thing was said about 3D television and those screens quickly disappeared. The lack of interest and approaches using this technology has finally killed it. And if virtual reality is not about to be in the videogame or medical field, will we be able to say the same thing about the social, media and educational environment? Some doubt it, claiming that the use of glasses or headsets cutting off the world would be more distressing for the average person than augmented reality. Indeed, using filters on phone devices or glasses seems to them a more sustainable approach than virtual reality.

The virtual has a real impact on social approaches. Yet, for now, these virtual worlds are being imposed by companies like Samsung, Sony, Facebook and others. As Philip Rosendale states, it is to be hoped that citizens will take hold of these tools to make them more than commercial showcases for discussion, but real ways to exchange and learn from distant human beings.

Illustration: Janitors via Foter.com / CC BY

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