Health ‘side effects’ of Apple Vision Pro-type glasses

A parallel world in which you see reality filmed through external cameras. Let’s say, instead of seeing directly with your eyes, a device alters the same scene through projection: your brain believes a scene is real, which it actually is not. or if? The arrival of Apple Vision Pro – Californians refuse to use the term ‘augmented reality’ to refer to this technology – will popularize its use and, with it, the first alarm about its possible impact on our brain.

“They can facilitate social isolation,” warns psychologist Joan Salvador Villalonga, who warns about the consequences of creating this parallel reality: “If it is used to create an ideal environment with which We distance ourselves from the reality that we do not like, saying every time “it will be easier to go to this artificial environment and more difficult to return to the real environment.” What do you actually mean? Augmented Reality Glasses with Mobile Phones It is nothing more than an extension of the sensations felt while conversing.

a deeper reality

The rush of dopamine when an entry receives many ‘likes’ on Instagram can immerse you in a series of traffic through that network that has no end, or what can we say about TikTok, where you know You know when you access this network but not when you leave, as its “infinite scroll” can keep you stuck for hours. In fact, the European Union wants to ban infinite scrolling to prevent drug addiction among youth. Now imagine this immersion with glasses that show you all the content in front of your eyes.

The first video to be broadcast on the network of Vision Pro owners scrambling on the street or in the subway to manage the platform’s virtual menus has created a dystopian scenario. A parallel world of astonished people focused on the parallel reality reflected before their own retinas. Someone might say, “But what are you saying: Glasses only show what’s in front of you.” Yes, okay, but it is still a projection and the message the brain receives is that it sees it and, although it is projected, it should consider it real.

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Dangers of parallel reality

Villalonga is clear: “If glasses are used to create an ideal environment with which we distance ourselves from the reality that we do not like, it will be much easier to go into this artificial environment and into the real environment. It will be more difficult to return.” In fact, it seems like Apple has put a band-aid on the wound before it even hurts and its list of warnings about the potential health effects of using the Vision Pro is very extensive and detailed. What possible scenarios does the company consider?

• If you have heart disease or have had seizures, you should consult your doctor before using glasses.

• If you are pregnant, suffer from migraine, vision or hearing problems, Vision Pro may intensify symptoms.

• The same thing happens if you are suffering from any mental illness.

• Apple warns that if you notice any health symptoms, you should stop using the glasses immediately.

But it wouldn’t be fair to blame the Vision Pro alone for health problems: something similar happens with Meta’s glasses, the Quest 3. We have to go to the instructions in the PDF (please note, we are in 2024) to find similar warnings on page 5. In fact, we can literally read:

absent and isolated

In any case, beyond the possible direct health problems, the main problem with an intense experience is that it can be a dynamite of isolation.

I admit that walking down the street makes me very angry and having to type on my cell phone to avoid more and more corpses on the sidewalk, without even looking at what is in front of them. And what can we say about the desolate scenario that we often see in the metro and in restaurants: everyone is lost in the mobile screen.

Villalonga warns of the possible “social isolation” of the use of augmented reality glasses and, in any case, “We must remember that reality tends to impose itself and avoiding it only works in the short term”,

The people of Cupertino have another vision (excuse the words), in the 36th second of this ad, they get a glimpse of a bucolic house in which a father wearing glasses plays with a ball with his children. A Dantesque scenario that these children would like to repeat and that would promote a parallel reality while ignoring the essence of the human: socialization and physical contact.

Attractive? Without a doubt, an unprecedented technological advancement? Moreover, but at some point we have to stop what is good for our well-being and what is not. Walking on the street with AirPods allows us to isolate from the street noise and observe people or the urban landscape; A tablet helps us to comfortably move to the sofa or bed and devote time to reading. But a device that clouds vision (and, of course, hearing), the main source of stimulation in humans, essentially isolates them from their environment and forces them into the ocean, which at least , is disturbing.

You may also be interested. on video: Will the Vision Pro mark a new way of relating to glasses technology?