New Technology Assingment

               The new technology that I believe will affect social media immensely in the future is virtual reality. I was reading an ARTICLE by Mark Schaefer when I came across this idea of virtual reality being merged with social media and creating something called virtual spaces. This ARTICLE describes these virtual spaces as places where people can create their own avatars and interact with other people’s avatars wherever they want to be. Basically, people can create a better life than what they actually have in their virtual space and escape their normal lives into an amazing world of their own. They can meet people in these worlds and develop relationships through this virtual reality technology.

               When I heard about these virtual spaces I immediately thought about the movie “Ready PlayerOne” that is now playing in theaters. When I saw the previews for the movie it seemed so far-fetched, but what’s crazy is that after reading about virtual spaces, it doesn’t seem so unrealistic. The movie is basically about a boy who transports out of his normal life into a video game that is virtual reality. He has his own avatar and interacts with other people’s avatars. I haven’t seen the movie, but it would be interesting to see the difference between his actual reality and his virtual reality within the movie.

               The reason that I say that it would be interesting to see the difference between his actual and virtual realities is because Mike Elgan predicts that these virtual spaces will be “the most addictive experience ever introduced.” The reason he says this is because when people aren’t happy with their lives they can just transform themselves into another life and live that life instead. It isn’t hard to see why that would be addictive if you weren’t fully satisfied with your actual reality.

               Elgan also predicts that these virtual spaces will be both a good and a bad thing, just like all other social media. Like other forms of social media, Elgan says it will bring people together in the virtual reality but will further isolate us in the real world. I personally think that these virtual spaces sound really cool, but I think that overall they would have a negative effect. I think that giving people that space to create a different life, will just make them less satisfied with their real lives. What people need to do is focus on making their actual life a better one, not their life on social media or their life in a virtual space.