The Metaverse is an alternative digital world or universe, which brings together the physical reality with the digital reality. Technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) enable interaction with virtual spaces and the human world. Humans can create their own ‘avatars’ and can teleport to various virtual spaces, while communicating with others in the virtual spaces. It has countless possibilities relating to video games with massive multiplayers, or working spaces, and social media (Mystakidis, 2022). For many the Metaverse is an exciting digital innovation to connect the digital and the physical world, however, there has been lots of critics as well. This is partly because it is hard to imagine how the Metaverse will eventually look like for the standard citizen. In the way the Metaverse is promoted now, a lot of people react negatively and think that it takes social media too far and disconnects humanity. There are a lot of challenges with the technology such as data privacy and health concerns (Momtaz, 2022). This form of digitalization can lead to addiction and total self-isolation in the physical world because the person is only living in the Metaverse.
The idea of running to a virtual world washing away all your problems is of course attractive, however is it healthy? A lot of experiences in the physical world are just a lot better than in the digital world. For example, the feeling of sunlight on your face (Momtaz, 2022). The metaverse is of course a complement to the physical world and not a replacement, and it apparent that there are lots of potential advantages. Yet we have soon to see the real fruits of this promised future. So, the questions and uncertainty for lots still remains. Will the metaverse really be the future? And will it be adopted by the public? Only time will tell.
Mystakidis, S. (2022). Metaverse. Encyclopedia, 2(1), 486-497.
Momtaz, P. P. (2022). Some very simple economics of web3 and the metaverse. Available at SSRN.
During this IS course I have been wandering exactly the same. I won’t lie, a few weeks ago I heard of the Metaverse for the first time in my life. My first reaction was, no way, this is not going to happen. After the isolation of COVID and people who were digitally exhausted from all the video calls and online social events. But since I read more about the advantages regarding shopping experiences and business environments in the Metaverse I think it might not be so bad (of course once its secure, like you mentioned). Since there are already running pilots with Metaverse shopping malls and Accenture with its Nth floor Metaverse office, I think the Metaverse might be sooner here than we think. I do however think people will need some time to adapt to this new world, changing human behavior can take some time. So indeed, time will tell…
Nice article! I agree that some physical activities should stay physical in the real world and not translate to the digital world (metaverse). I think the switch to a digital world is already happening with also luxury brands and multinational companies making a shift towards the metaverse. Therefore, very nice article!