Сочинение: Virtual Reality

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Liza Mirkovskaya

Professor Shaffer

English Composition 3

7 December 2003

Impact of Virtual Reality on Human Identity and Relationships

It is impossible to imagine contemporary civilized society without well-

developed computer technologies, which were created to ease all kinds of

human activity as well as to enhance human identity and relationships with

the society. However, as with any essential life phenomenon, virtual

technologies have detrimental effects. Last decade of the twentieth century,

as well as the beginning of the new millennium, produced new diseases of

civilization, resulting not only from air pollution and urbanization, but

also from total “virtualization.” How can we explain the disease of

“virtualization”?

People who became acquainted with the virtual reality are not capable of

stopping to use it because it gives the illusion of enormous opportunities to

an individual. In her essay, “Who Am We”, Sherry Turkle argues that such

people would agree that virtual reality allows people to “express unexplored

aspects of the self” (678). She means that if there are some aspects of

individuals that they are shy to demonstrate, they can do so by resorting to

virtual reality, where they can act without a fear of judgment. Therefore,

she argues, people can overcome shyness by simply spending time in virtual

reality. Virtuality also allows people to be creative by crafting multiple

virtual selves. By covering under these multiple selves, people can quickly

achieve success in romantic relationships, which would take a lot of time and

effort in real life. Generally, frequent Internet users might argue that

virtual reality is beneficial because it takes people away from their

difficult problems. However, these defenders of virtual reality do not

realize that running away from the tough “real” world does

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not solve existing problems; on the contrary, it aggravates them. Resorting

to virtual reality does more harm than good. By disconnecting people from the

real world, virtual reality leads to such psychological problems as

isolation, loss of social contacts and communication skills, sense of false

reality, and depression. The relationship between isolation and other

psychological troubles is circular: the more isolated the person is, the more

psychological disorders he possesses.

Recent developments in technology, especially Internet, have isolated people by

breaking their connection with the physical world. The virtual reality that

traps Internet users requires them to pay full attention to the computer screen

in order to follow what is going on there instead of concentrating on real

events and people. Internet users usually do not communicate verbally with

anyone because that takes their attention away from the virtual reality. While

using Internet, people spend their time sitting alone in front of their

computer. All they have to do is to stare at the screen and move their hand a

little to navigate the mouse and type responses in chat rooms. A film The

Matrix provides an effective example of such isolation. The movie starts by

depicting Neo’s room, which is full of digital gadgets. The room is messy and

stuffy. It is dark – the absence of sunlight shows how isolated Neo is from

natural environment. In the scene, Neo is asleep in front of his computer, with

his headphones on. The sound of music does not disturb his sleep. However, when

a message pops up on the screen of his computer, he wakes up. It shows that Neo

is so connected to the virtual reality that he does not respond to natural

environments anymore. It is noteworthy that Neo’s apartment number is 101 – the

numbers that digital systems are made of. This is representative of how

strongly Neo is tied to the virtual world of computers and Internet. Neo wakes

up tired – most likely he has spent a long time in front of his computer and

has not

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talked to other people. Therefore, Neo’s persona shows that physical

separation leads to mental isolation from others. Losing contact with other

people, Internet users usually become

more and more drawn into virtual reality. These people start to forget the

events that happen in their surroundings since what matters more is the

virtual reality of the chat room. Their interests shift toward the computer

reality. It is as if an invisible screen is built between these people and

their environments. As time goes on, frequent chatters are preoccupied more

with “friends” they have met online that the real friends they possess. They

start perceiving the “real” world as just a chair and a table, on which there

is a computer and a mouse with a pair of speakers. To prove this isolation,

Clifford Stoll, in his essay “Isolated by the Internet”, refers to a study

that shows that “greater use of Internet was associated with [.]

statistically significant declines in social involvement.”(650).

Clifford Stoll also mentions that “.The best predictor of psychological

troubles is a lack of close social contacts” (651). Isolation leads to

numerous social problems. Isolated people lose contact with family,

neighbors, and friends much easier, thus losing an essential support system.

As Stoll describes it, “the effect of electronic communication is to isolate

us from our colleagues next door” (654). He cites an example of two

colleagues who communicated extensively online but failed to recognize each

other at work, although they sat only five feet from each other. Although

this example may seem paradoxical at first sight, it truly reflects the

reality of online communication, which takes away the human aspect of

communication, making it impersonal and remote.

As Internet users become more and more isolated from society, they lose

communication skills that are crucial for “real-life” interactions. Nowadays,

e-mail messages substitute a lot of human interaction. However, “E-mail [.]

prevent (s) us from learning basic skills of dealing with people face to

face” (Stoll, 651). E-mails “allow” people

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to communicate precisely what they need by giving them a chance to think over

what they want to write. Nevertheless, precise communication includes not

only expressing thoughts in

clear words, but also intonations, facial expressions, and gestures. E-mail

messages cannot possibly provide all of these human means of communication.

Therefore, there is an atrophy of normal communication skills and emotions

that most human beings possess. When Internet users have to interact with

others in real life, they experience difficulties because they have already

lost their communication skills and abilities to communicate by expressing

emotions. Failure to communicate expressively causes a natural reaction of

withdrawing further from the society, which leads to even greater isolation.

Isolation from the real physical world forces people to shift their lives

toward the virtual world, in which they create different personas and use

those to communicate with other Internet users. Therefore, there is a false

sense of reality in the minds of these people. Plunging into false reality

causes people to lose control of their real world, where they live and

interact with others. It is true that this virtual reality might seem

comforting because people are able to construct it in a way that pleases them

the most. However, people have to return to their everyday reality in order

to stay in control of it.

Thus, the inner and outer harmony of an individual is distorted, and

psychological problems appear. One of them is depression. By definition,

depression is a clinical condition, in which external factors cause an

individual to have prolonged feelings of helplessness, sadness,

worthlessness, and internal pain. Usually people who resort to virtual

reality already possess some mental problems, such as low self-esteem, fear

of judgment, and feeling of worthlessness. In the virtual reality, especially

in the MUDs, they create a world that seems comforting and secure for them.

When people get off Internet and realize that the sweet reality of

imagination is over and they have to deal with the harsh reality of their

life, they

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tend to feel disoriented and helpless. Clifford Stoll refers to a study that

has proven an “increase in depression by about one percent for every hour

spend online per week” (649). Stoll also cites an example of a Pennsylvania

college student, Steve, who spends most of his time online in the MUDs. Steve

confesses that when he is playing online, he is “in control of my [Steve’s]

character and my [Steve’s] destiny in this world” (qtd. in Stoll). However,

when he is not online, Stoll writes, “he’s held back by low self esteem. Shy

and awkward around people, he’s uncomfortable around women and doesn’t fit

well in school” (652). Therefore, Stoll’s example proves that people who

resort to virtual reality to escape their problems tend to feel even more

depressed after returning to the “real” world. Sherry Turkle writes that

“players [in the MUDs] commonly try to take things from the virtual to the

real and are usually disappointed” (682). Since resorting to the virtual

world is their escape from the difficult real environment, how do they deal

with the realization that escaping reality does not take away the problems?

For human beings, especially for insecure individuals, returning to a harsh

environment creates additional stress, which elevates the levels of

depression. Each time individuals are brought back into the world where they

feel left out, the symptoms of depression become worse. They realize that

they have wasted time online enjoying themselves in the fictitious world, but

they have not addressed their problems. They feel that they are losing

control over their real world, which causes them to feel sharp inner pain.

They feel worthless; however, they might not have anyone to talk about their

feelings since they have already become alienated from their friends and

family. Therefore, virtual reality traps people into a vicious circle: the

more time they spend online in chats, the more isolated they are and the more

depression and loneliness they experience in their real life.

Sherry Turkle cites another example of a typical victim of virtual reality,

Stewart, who spent most of his time in the MUDs. Stewart decided to resort to

MUDs because he realized

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that his “real” social life was not satisfactory. He viewed himself as

worthless and unimportant to others. However, he created a totally different

image of himself in virtual reality. He depicted himself as outgoing,

romantic, and brave. Nevertheless, Turkle says that “for Stewart, playing on

MUDs led to a net drop in self-esteem.MUDdnig did not alter Stewart’s sense

of himself as withdrawn, unappealing, and flawed” (681). Turkle’s example

proves that resorting to virtual reality is not a way out; on the contrary,

it is a source of mental problems, such as depression, lowering of self-

esteem, and further withdrawal from the society.

My own virtual reality experience allowed me judge the difficulty of

returning to the real world from comforting imaginary reality. I was not

indulging in using virtual reality to escape from my “problems”; therefore, I

did not experience any signs of depression or loss of inner harmony when

returning to the real world. However, it was fairly hard for me to get back

to the real world because my virtual self was different from my real self. My

virtual self, Annette was a twenty-year-old girl that had already achieved

success in the field of psychology at such a young age. She was a confident,

intelligent, and self-satisfied individual who was living in harmony with

herself. She had a chance to spend a lot of time doing what she really

enjoyed: thinking, talking to friends, and travel all around the world. Since

I created my virtual persona to be someone of my dreams, I felt like my

dreams had come true. Each time I finished writing my post, I felt that I was

being deceived by the two realities. I realized that I have to deal with the

difficult “real” reality, but all my hopes and dreams were realized in

another, virtual, reality. Therefore, my own virtual reality experience

proves that resorting to the fictional world elevates the feeling of

discomfort, and, more often, depression.

How do current technological developments change people’s lives? It is true

that they benefit the society by speeding up communication and allowing

people to create

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different personas online and act upon them without fearing others’ judgment.

However, development of Internet and virtual reality has also isolated people

from the real world, thus subjecting them to such psychological tribulations

as depression and loss of connection with others. By intending to help

people, digital technologies make people’s lives miserable. People, whose

inner harmony was destroyed by excessive Internet use, are no longer able to

be active and creative members of the society. The world we live in today is

not perfect; there is much injustice, war, poverty, and hunger to be

eradicated. People who have plunged into the virtual reality are so isolated,

depressed, and disconnected from others that they are lost for the society.

These Internet users are not able to solve everyday problems and improve life

around them. Our society is in danger of falling into the abyss of

virtuality. If people do not understand this and move away from the abyss,

the human society will fall apart.

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Works Cited

The Matrix. Dir. Larry and Andy Wachowski. Perf. Keana Reeves, Laurence

Fishborne, Carie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. Videocassette. Warner Bros.,

1999.

Stoll, Clifford. “Isolated by the Internet”. Mind Readings: An Anthology for

Writers. Ed. Gary Colombo. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.

648-655.

Turkle, Sherry. “Who Am We?” Mind Readings: An Anthology for Writers.

Ed. Gary Colombo. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 675-687.