The Effects Of The Metaverse On Society

Shopping in the Metaverse

The metaverse is already changing how we shop. IKEA was a pioneer with their Place app, which uses augmented reality tech to place furniture into our rooms so we can see how things will look within our home or office space.

Companies like L’Oreal and Avon enable you to virtually try on makeup through their app or website, so you can pick the perfect shade.

Apple allows you to view their latest gadgets in your room using augmented reality, and Bolle not only lets you see what their sunglasses look like on your face – they are even using AR and artificial intelligence to show you what the world will look like through different lenses! The metaverse will continue to build on and expand on these kinds of immersive retail experiences.

Transforming Training and Education

In the future, we’ll see the metaverse providing immersive, engaging learning opportunities in many different circumstances, including formal organizations and schools, lifelong learning, corporate training, and personal improvement.

Children can already take lessons by transporting themselves to different places and at different times, using immersive VR and AR technology. We've already seen this in Poland, where teachers are using the VR game Half-Life: Alyx to teach science lessons. Companies like Skanska are also conducting their health and safety training using virtual reality.

Virtual Healthcare Helpers

The metaverse will provide new and innovative ways to look after our health. Virtual reality counseling is already available, and therapists are using VR goggles to provide exposure therapy to patients, so they can experience the situations that frighten them in a safe, controlled environment.

Surgeons are also using augmented reality technology to guide certain surgical procedures – and they can train for operations using digital twins.

At home, we have a myriad of VR and AR wellness apps available to us – you can even do guided yoga using augmented reality!

Metaverse Travel Tech

Hotels are already using VR as a marketing tool by creating immersive experiences that lure in new visitors. As consumers, we can take VR excursions all over the world, to places like Zion National Park, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, or Dubai. In the metaverse, we’ll be able to go virtually anywhere in the world just by strapping on a headset.

When we physically travel to a destination, we will also have access to guided augmented reality tours that will enhance our travel experiences and help us learn more about our surroundings.

Creating New Things in the Metaverse

The metaverse will also transform the way we create new things. Engineers, entrepreneurs, and creators are already using digital twins – virtual replicas of objects – to simulate what things will look like in the real world.

Formula 1 is using digital twins to create new race cars and try them out on virtual tracks. NVIDIA now offers an omniverse where you can create the complete architecture of a building in a virtual world, then put on your VR goggles and walk around that building at different times and in different situations. You can even see what the building will look like at sunset, or when it’s packed with people.

These types of co-creation tools will become even more common in the metaverse.

The Challenges of the Metaverse

There’s also a downside to the metaverse, and we’ll need to consider these challenges as we move into a more immersive virtual world.

Those challenges include things like:

1. Privacy – The metaverse will potentially collect a lot of personal data on every user, including eye-tacking, physical reactions, and haptics. How can we protect that data?

2. Protection for children – As kids immerse themselves in the metaverse, how can we monitor what they’re doing and seeing, so we can keep them safe?

3. Health concerns – VR hangovers, post-VR sadness, and cyber addiction are real – how can we combat the health challenges of an immersive world?

4. Access inequality – How can we make sure that people have equal access to the technology needed to join the metaverse, including handsets, headsets, and connectivity?

5. Legal issues – We will need to sort out the regulatory grey issues of the metaverse. For instance, when is a virtual act a crime?

6. Desensitization – As people enter increasingly more lifelike virtual worlds, how can we make sure they don’t get desensitized to violence, racism, and misogyny?

7. Identity hacking – We will all be using virtual avatars to navigate the metaverse, so protecting our identities will be critical. How can we verify that users are who they say they are in the virtual world?