Social effects of Virtual Reality

Recently the Oculus Rift in conjunction with VR has been used as a tool to treat anxiety and a range of phobias such as, acrophobia, arachnophobia, claustrophobia, agoraphobia and post-traumatic stress syndrome. Coincidentally VR in its current form is real enough for simulations with just the right amount of unreal. Mental disorder doctors are able to use this technology in conjunction with traditional treatments.

Anxiety disorders and phobias are a real problem that affects one in sixty people in the United States (US). A US doctor Tarnogol explained that by using the OR her patient does not have to be exposed to the real stressor, which is usually a barrier in treatment. Giving the patient the ability disengage the simulation at any time helped immensely with her treatment. Using this methodology people suffering with mental disorders are able to build resistance and strategies to lessen the effects of their particular disorder.

In the past new technologies have profoundly influenced our lives, some examples of these are radio, television and internet. According to Karl Marx a technological determinism theorists, new technology drives the development of social structure and cultural values. An example of this happened recently, with the invention of the Internet. The internet catapulted the information age and radically changed the way society consumed information and socialized. This can be viewed as an all-pervasive change of society.

In the middle of the ‘Technological Deterministic Spectrum’, would be the Television. When it was invented, television allowed information, ideas and entertainment to spread at incredible speeds, speeds that had not seen since the invention of the Radio.

At the bottom of the spectrum, is the Gutenberg printing press, invented in 1450. It allowed mass reproduction of books, this created a communication medium for ideas.

For the first time common people were able to spread ideas, previously available only to the elite.

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16 nov 2014