On February 2nd, Apple released the Apple Vision Pro for purchase to the public. This device promises to let its users do whatever they want with smart technology wherever and whenever they want, seamlessly blending digital content with your physical space.
How much would you pay for this new virtual-reality technology? The Vison Pro is sold at a whopping $3,500, very pricey for most consumers. “Right now, I don’t feel like it is [worth the money]; you can do a lot on it but honestly…since your phone can do all that the Apple Vison Pro can do, it’s just a cool accessory for people who have too much money to spend [on frivolous things],” says Cohen Downey (9).
With this new technology that surpasses other VR headsets such as the Meta Quest 3, the Vison Pro has already been compared to science fiction and dystopian stories such as Ready Player One and Black Mirror due to the uncanniness of watching a human being obscure their senses of reality by filtering it through a virtual world that they control.
Could a simple VR headset really be so harmful? This is the question echoed by many when deciding their opinion on this product. “Yes it has positive and negative…[impacts]…when it comes cheaper, and it will, people can become obsessed with it and wear it everywhere and stop interacting with other humans, but I feel like that’s the worst case scenario for this product,” Cohen remarks, “since otherwise it could just be a good way to connect with people.”
Mrs. Stevens (Teacher) has a different take, saying, “The only way this device can be harmful to society is when it falls into the wrong hands…for example, if you are training for a terrorist attack using the Apple Vison Pro, then that abuses the way the device was meant to be used…anything in the wrong hands could potentially be harmful.
Is this product and the VR world enough to change the way society works by normalizing each person having their own virtual world? “Not really,” Cohen commented, “because people rely on facial contact more [than digital contact] and we are not [yet] at that point where we are that addicted to screens. No matter how advanced technology gets, people are always going to talk face to face…we [just] use electronics because it’s a new way to communicate when we are not near the person.”
Will this become the future of computing and entertainment? This will all depend on Apple’s vison for their new and exciting product.
