The word escapism is defined as the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realties, especially entertainment or engaging in fantasy. This word encapsulates the expression consumers feel when they hear the words virtual reality. It’s as way for users to escape their daily lives and experience a completely different life than they have now. They could be experience being a samurai protecting his castle from invaders or even relaxing on a warm beach on Hawaii. Virtual reality provides that escapism for users to enjoy however, what would happen if that fantasy turned into a nightmare?
Many experts state that virtual reality has the potential to be an unregulated torture machine. And while that may be an over exaggeration, the …show more content…
However, that’s is almost never the case and virtual reality is no exception. One critique that this product faces is how consumers will interact with how they immersive this technology is. Glenn F. Cartwright, a psychology professor at McGill University, explains in his article entitled Virtual or Real? The Mind in Cyberspace that “the more senses that are involved at once, the more immersed one may become in virtual reality… and the harder it may become to distinguish the real world from the artificial one” (22). With that into account, the negatives of immersion become one of the major reasons why virtual reality should be regulated. Doug Birend, a writer for the website Motherboard, also discusses the nature of immersion and how virtual reality can be used as a form of torture in his article entitled The Dark Age of Virtual Reality - Based Torture is Approaching Fast, he states that “… given how powerful VR (Virtual Reality) is becoming and how widely used, its evidently going to become, one logical misuse is especially disturbing: torture” (Birend). Throughout the article, Birend suggests that a malicious virtual scenario could trigger the user and potentially harm their mental wellbeing which implies a warning on the current state of virtual reality. Without regulation, virtual reality devices can be misused and cause harm to its users without having to lift a
Many experts state that virtual reality has the potential to be an unregulated torture machine. And while that may be an over exaggeration, the …show more content…
However, that’s is almost never the case and virtual reality is no exception. One critique that this product faces is how consumers will interact with how they immersive this technology is. Glenn F. Cartwright, a psychology professor at McGill University, explains in his article entitled Virtual or Real? The Mind in Cyberspace that “the more senses that are involved at once, the more immersed one may become in virtual reality… and the harder it may become to distinguish the real world from the artificial one” (22). With that into account, the negatives of immersion become one of the major reasons why virtual reality should be regulated. Doug Birend, a writer for the website Motherboard, also discusses the nature of immersion and how virtual reality can be used as a form of torture in his article entitled The Dark Age of Virtual Reality - Based Torture is Approaching Fast, he states that “… given how powerful VR (Virtual Reality) is becoming and how widely used, its evidently going to become, one logical misuse is especially disturbing: torture” (Birend). Throughout the article, Birend suggests that a malicious virtual scenario could trigger the user and potentially harm their mental wellbeing which implies a warning on the current state of virtual reality. Without regulation, virtual reality devices can be misused and cause harm to its users without having to lift a