Health “side effects” of Apple Vision Pro-type glasses

A parallel world in which you see reality depicted through external cameras. Come on, instead of seeing directly with your own eyes, the device replaces the same scene through a projection device: your brain assumes that the scene is real, which in reality it is not. or if? The arrival of the Apple Vision Pro – Californians refuse to use the term “augmented reality” to refer to this technology – will lead to the generalization of its use and with it the first warnings about it Possible effect on our brain.

“They can facilitate social isolation,” warns Juan Salvador Villalonga, a psychologist, who warns of the consequences of creating this parallel reality. “If it is used to create an ideal environment in which we distance ourselves from the reality we do not like, and every time “it will be easier to go into This artificial environment, and it is more difficult to return to the real environment.” What exactly do you mean? Augmented reality glasses are nothing more than an extension of the sensations one feels when interacting with a mobile phone.

Immersive reality

The dopamine rush when any entry on Instagram receives many “likes” can immerse you in a cascade of endless network traffic, or what can we say about it. Tik Tok, you know when you arrive at this network but not when you leave it, because its “infinite scrolling” can keep you trapped for hours. In fact, the European Union wants it Stop infinite scrolling To avoid addiction among children. Imagine this dazzle now with glasses that show you all the content in front of your eyes.

The first videos that circulated on networks of Vision Pro owners making noise on the street or in the subway – in order to manage the platform's virtual menu – painted a dystopian scenario. A parallel world of transfixed people focusing on a parallel reality reflected before their retinas. Someone may say: But what do you say: Glasses show what is in front of you. Yes, okay, but it is still a projection and the message the brain receives is that it sees it and, even though it is projected, it must assume it to be real.

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The dangers of parallel reality

Villalonga is clear: “If glasses are used to create an ideal environment in which we distance ourselves from the reality we do not like, it will be increasingly easier to go into this artificial environment and more difficult to return to the real environment.” In fact, Apple seems to have put the band-aid on before the wound even hits, and its list of warnings about the potential health effects of using the Vision Pro is quite extensive and detailed. What possible circumstances is the company considering?

• If you suffer from heart disease or epileptic seizures, you should consult your doctor before using glasses.

• If you are pregnant, suffer from migraines, or have vision or hearing problems, Vision Pro can speed up your symptoms.

• The same thing happens if you suffer from mental illness.

• Apple warns that you should immediately stop using glasses if you suffer from any health symptoms.

But it would not be fair to attribute health problems only to Vision Pro: with Meta glasses, Quest 3Something similar happens. We have to go to the instructions, in PDF (Mark, please, it's 2024) to discover, on page 5, similar warnings. In fact, we can literally read:

Absent and isolated

However, beyond potential immediate health issues, the main problem with an immersive experience is that it can be the dynamite of isolation.

I admit, it makes me very angry when I'm walking down the street and have to avoid more and more zombies on the sidewalk typing on their cell phones without looking at what's in front of them. And what can we say about the desolate panorama that we find on the subway and, increasingly, in restaurants: everyone is absorbed in the mobile phone screen.

Villalonga warns of the potential “social isolation” of using augmented reality glasses, and that in any case, “We must remember that reality tends to impose itself and that escaping it only succeeds in the very short term.”.

Those from Cupertino had another sighting (pardon the pun), at 36 seconds from This ad, they glimpse a country house where a father, wearing glasses, is playing ball with his children. A Dante scenario that these children would want to repeat would promote a parallel reality, ignoring the essence of being human: socialization and physical contact.

Fascinating? Undoubtedly an unprecedented technological advance? Also, but at some point, we're going to have to put up a barrier to what's good and what's not good for our well-being. Walking down the street with AirPods allows us to disconnect from the noise of the street and observe people or the urban scene; The tablet helps us move our leisure time to the sofa or bed and make time for reading. But the device that places a layer over the main source of stimuli in man, which is sight (and hearing, of course), inevitably isolates him from his environment and takes him to some seas, at the very least. Annoying.

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