“Virtual Reality is one of the key concepts that will make us define our existence in this world. It is the true reality that we must prosper and the one that will nourish us. It is the one that will make us redefine the true meaning of existence. And, as one of those that lives within this realm, I can guarantee that it will satisfy your needs.”
– RD
That is something which people think of these days, although not the exact words but the thought is there at least. First of all, I do not live in the virtual world even though it sounds cool and all. But, it is just like a double-edged sword, it gives you the power to break down your safety walls but it will definitely turn back towards you at some point. Life in a virtual world is something that all of us experiences up until now which can be explained by Sherry Turkle’s book, “Alone Together”.
I do want to point out that she defines our world as something that we wanted back in the past. Before, people wanted to figure out how they will make computers busier. As people would expect before, computers would be the one that will compute for us and all but, that is not the case. It is quite ironic though but we are the ones that made computers busy just by being with it. We made them busy just by giving them companionship and love. We treat it as some sort of material that will fill up the emptiness that we have inside.
As a sort of an example, in the society, you can ALWAYS see people facing down on their mobile devices; from streets to malls, from public to private vehicles, heck even at home you would see people looking down on their devices. The point is, all of us, and there is no exception, unless you are one of those who live in the Stone Age, are indulged in these realities that these devices give us.
Speaking of indulgence on these different realities, I would admit it, I do not use too much of these devices except for work, music, and watching; just saying. Anyways, there is this one point that Turkle pointed out and that is our life overall. We live out our life in the virtual world and no, it is not just focused on virtual reality games that we see online but on social media as well. We live within those worlds that we connect up to people everywhere; be it that that person that you recently chatted is from the U.S or some unidentified place like my heart. But the point is, regardless of what we do in our devices, we are already living in a virtual reality, a reality that we can live on our own and redefine our own existence as a whole. That may sound awesome but it is a fact that virtual reality can distort our sense of “realness” in this world. Sooner or later, we will question ourselves as a human being on what our true purpose is.
Knowing that virtual reality is a trend in this world, we can somehow relate to a quote given by Turkle, “I share, therefore I am”. That may have sounded like a rip-off on René Descartes philosophy on the mind and body but that pretty much sums up our entire life as one of those people who live in this era. Defining what it means is the same as what René Descartes meant of his own philosophical concept, that we only exists through thinking that we exists. It may sound weird saying that we only exist because we share and we live out our life in the virtual reality but it is true, in a loose sense, though just by hearing about it, it is quite funny. Anyways, living in the virtual reality needs to have something just for you to exist, which in this case; sharing with people is the one that dictates your existence. Being connected to these technological aspects of our lives dictates who we are and our very own existence.
All in all, virtual reality is life as one would say. Interactions are already enough within this realm and it is true, according to an introvert. But the thing is, we need to regain our human interactions. We need to reclaim our conversations and in such things, we need to get out of our virtual reality and live in the harshest environment known to man; Reality. Virtual reality is an illusion to us just to sway us from what is real and for us to get away from it, conversing with people mano-o-mano is in dire need in the society.
Sources:
“Alone Together” by Sherry Turkle
Pelaez Don't Go 