The announcement by Facebook of a new name “ Meta” is not just about the change of name. It is the announcement of an integration that has long been in the making – that of Social Media and Augmented and Virtual Reality. Social Media has changed the way human interactions happen and has created a collective whose emotions and feelings and even decisions are subject to manipulations by waves of positivity, hatred, dissent, approval and a myriad of many human emotions.
While studies have indicated that social media is addictive and in turn may cause depression …..its also a way to stay connected , specially during Covid-19 isolation times. We are now at the cusp of a new revolution- that brought about by the Virtual World at a totally different level.
“Metaverse,” as it is known “Metaverse” is a phrase that was coined by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson in 1992. Stephenson used the term to describe a futuristic reality in which everyone was connected. This is the concept of a virtual world . For those not familiar with this , need to know that there are already virtual world platforms that exist today Sandbox, Decentraland, Second Life and many others. The WFH times in the last couple of years also gave rise to a lot of Virtual Event Platforms.
Sounds like fun ! doesn’t it? However as a end user have you paused to wonder how much of your privacy you are giving away already through the existing social platforms. The question we have to ask is what will be privacy, security and ethics considerations in a virtual world where avatars are connected . What kind of behaviours are likely to be exhibited by people when they are able to bifurcate their identities into physical and virtual and different moral , ethical standards are applied in both these worlds.
Its a question that everyone needs to ponder on. We need to understand that the future is going to change in many ways and this is the time for the end user to make decisions that will enable , nudge and force more ethical use of technology, in a manner that is most beneficial for mankind .
Until then, we have to wait and watch what this combination of Social Media and Virtual Reality is going to bring – A new fresh way of connecting or a Metastatisation of all that is already not working .