A brief story about VR
To understand when VR started, it is important to define the term. VR or Virtual Reality is:
“The use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. The only limits to near-real VR experiences are the availability of content and cheap computing power.” (marxentlabs.com)
Some argue that the idea of virtual reality was born in the 19th century with panoramic paintings, such as the battle of Racławice exposed in Wrocław since 1947, which aimed to immerse the spectator in the setting. Yet, the true VR concept was born in the 1930s thanks to the writer Stanley G. Weinbaum in Pygmalion’s Spectacles. In his science fiction novel, he mentions the use of glasses that would make the wearer perceive a fictional world (with sight but also smell, taste, and touch).
VR as we know it will have to wait for the 1960s and the help of Ivan Sutherland, an American IT engineer. Sutherland will create what he calls the “Ultimate Display”, which according to him, is as follows:
“The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. With appropriate programming, such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked.”
Ivan Sutherland will become one of the VR pioneers in history, and thanks to his game “Sword of Damocles”, the world will consider his work as the archetype of modern VR.
The name VR will have to wait until 1987, when the founder of the virtual programming lab (VPL), came up with the term “Virtual Reality”.
25 years later, co-founder of the “Oculus rift” Palmer Lucky would take the contraption to a whole new level. His invention had so much potential that Facebook would eventually purchase the Oculus, 2 years later. Google would try to retaliate by making VR accessible to all thanks to its “Google Cardboard”. Unfortunately for them, this will only become a fad and would never reach the same success as the Oculus.
VR and Therapy
Even though the origins of VR were mostly focused on science fiction and video games, the technology had a serious impact on the medical industry. The first treatments ever began in the 1990s with the help of computer scientist Larry Hodges and psychologist Barbara Rothbaum. It turned out that the result of their research proved to be beneficial in treating phobias, especially: acrophobia (the fear of heights). With such a breakthrough in psychological science, Albert Carlin and Hunter Hoffman, both psychologists, theorized VR as being a potential cure against arachnophobia (the fear of spiders).
Studies have continuously been made in the field of VR healthcare, and many conclusions have been made that the technology could be used for PTSD, anxiety-related disorders, and phobias in general. Emmy-nominated journalist, Hannah Kuchler says: “People on opiates could be given a VR tour of what their body would look like after years of addiction”, suggesting that VR could play a major role against addictive disorders.
According to statista.com: “As of 2018, the North American healthcare AR and VR industry was valued at 477 million U.S. dollars. By 2025, that is expected to increase dramatically to 4.64 billion U.S. dollars.” The business perspective for such technology is underlyingly huge. With all the studies, all the positive feedback from the doctors and the patients, what could be the challenges for the technology?
Challenges to VR
With respect to Dr. Kalpana Srivastava, side effects to VR are: “dizziness, nausea, headache, eye strain, reduced limb control, reduced postural control, decreased sense of presence, and the development of responses inappropriate to the real world”. In other words, to be optimal and ready to be used efficiently, engineers still need to find a way to better VR.
With the exponential growth of VR in healthcare, one can hope that companies will make the technology side-effectless and hopefully financially accessible to most people.
Should you use VR?
VR has proved through history to be beneficial for mental health, there is even a word for it: VR exposure therapy (VRET). Its scalability is incontestable, and anxiety disorders being the most common of mental disorders “affecting nearly 18.1% of adults” (frontiersin.org, 2019), the potential is more than just promising.
In my humble opinion, if I had to recommend VR for health issues, I would definitely do so. For the skeptics, alternatives still exist today such as traditional therapy, or on the more unconventional spectrum, hypnosis. Yet, with all the studies and practices that have been done, it is clear that if you suffer from mental health disorders, VR is a solution today.
Sources used:
https://www.ft.com/content/1a9a4cac-83cb-11e8-96dd-fa565ec55929
VR could bring pros and cons, and I am happy that you talk about the good side of it. I’m sure that good. htithgs outweigh bad
I believe that VR is definitely going to grow and become a more important part of our future as we slowly start to shift to the Metaverse. Although it has its own pros and cons, this article gives a brief look at the advantages and disadvantages, its also a bit more critical;
https://filmora.wondershare.com/virtual-reality/pros-cons-virtual-virtual.html
VR is a wonderful tool and I’ve never thought about it like that. It’s very insightful to think of this technology like that. I wonder how long will it take to become wide-spread
Interesting solution to VR technology! Hopefully we will see more of them in the future!
In the movie “ready player one” everything seems like a dream when they stay inside VR for 3 or more days. Our VR isn’t developed that well yet, but still overusing it seems dangerous. Especially for our mind. I believe we will find a good balance. Hopefully.