With so much technology available and apps flooding the market daily, it is hard to keep up. Sometimes we find ourselves frantically downloading the latest and greatest so that we aren’t looked at as “old-fashioned.” There is plenty good to come from this influx of bytes of information: education, communication, travel, access to reviews and recommendations. Where is the line though? When does the technology interfere with simply living your life? If I had the answer, then I’d be rolling in the dough. Alas, the only dough I’m rolling has pizza sauce.
The newest wave of tech to slap us upside the head is virtual reality. If you have seen someone sitting in the living room or on a park bench wearing what looks to be welder’s goggles, don’t worry, they are just exploring the world (hopefully this one) through their virtual reality headgear. The technology is connecting people of all ages to the far corners of the world. It is almost like you are actually there! Almost.
Virtual reality (VR) is defined as “an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli provided by a computer…”. The key word in the definition is artificial, as in not real. As cool as it might be to tour the Sphinx from my couch, is it better than catching a flight to Egypt?
To quote the late, great Robin Williams from Good Will Hunting “… if I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling…”
The message here is pretty simple. Yes I can immerse myself into my phone, tablet, VR headgear and see the marvels that make up this globe but am I actually more cultured, wiser, more active? The technology is being put to the test to by companies like YouVisit, Discovery VR and Jaunt VR who are pushing the market trend from backpackers to armchair globetrotters. Meanwhile, educational resources are multiplying through projects such as CyArk and Scholastic’s Global Trek. It is hard to imagine that we can’t learn by using these instruments and resources; at least using these applications would provide some sort of mental stimulation as opposed to scrolling through an endless array of posts regarding what’s for dinner.
However, these resources can’t replace or even duplicate all of the benefits of actually experiencing places and things in first person. If you never go to Paris, then how do you actually understand how their way of life differs from ours? Without trekking the Appalachian Trail, how can you truly feel at peace with nature? Without standing at the base of the Pyramids of Giza, how can you accurately awe at their construction? Virtual reality and technology have opened doors to people who may never have certain opportunities otherwise and for this reason these technologies should be celebrated and utilized, however, no technology can duplicate in entirety the cumulative sense of exploring the vast wonders of this world and mingling with those from various cultures.