Can VR solve problems caused by social media?

submitted by s8cyprks from self.technology

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[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's an interesting though. But is the solution to all this rudeness to de-anonymize the internet? Or is it better to change the culture of how people behave when they're anonymous?

I think a lot of our shared subconscious is becoming conscious because of all the extra opportunities to communicate that the internet provides. Maybe this layer of openness just needs some cultural maturing just by aging.

We're right now at the peak era when the youngest people ever have internet access. It's fully ubiquitous for the first time. I think it's just going to take some time to mature.

Maybe VR would help. There does seem to be a problem with emotional expression, because most everything is through text. So it's very easy to misread tone and sarcasm, and perhaps VR that allows gesticulation (or just more voice chat as well) will reduce that. Or perhaps it'll just make the bullying that much more real and pervasive... It's honestly hard to say.

Do you think it'll help because it'll de-anonymize people in a way which will hold them more accountable, or do you think it'll help because it seems more like a real human interaction and therefore people will naturally act better?

[–]s8cyprks[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Both, actually. Like I said, people are so brave to bully someone because they can easily hide behind an avatar or a firewall, but what if you put them in a virtual simulation, place them with other virtual people? Not only will they have "real" human interaction (as real as it can be), they might also think twice before thinking of bullying someone. Now, the question is, will it have any effects on them once they're off VR and is back typing on their keyboard?