Very Real technology reshaping our lives
Virtual reality is here to stay, here to grow, and here to shape society.
The Medium is the Message, a piece of writing by Marshall McCluhan, explains that the mediums we use shape our thoughts and actions just as much as the content they support. The mediums we create with and consume media on shape who we are. The way we consume that content is shaped by the medium itself.
We humans adapt to whatever we are surrounded by.
VR will soon be a piece of our every day experience as humans, and as such we should mold it into something that benefits us, for it will be molding us no matter how it is designed.
Mediums have shaped society through all of history.
Writing forces a person to stay relatively still and focus on one word at a time in a single thread of thought. Radio pushes a single thread of audible storytelling into our ears. Television uses visuals to steer our thoughts, and we stare at a screen for extended periods to consume the content. Smartphones provide access through small two dimensional rectangle displays we hold in our hand and keep in our pockets. Each of these mediums has shaped how we live, work, and play.
Writing has also caused the design and creation of furniture, buildings, and entire systems of education. Huge physical constructs all designed around a single medium: writing. Writing has even helped countries like America create new forms of government.
Radio and television entered the homes of millions and changed how we spent our evenings.
The living room radio only lasting a few decades before television took over. Entire homes have been built designed around this single feature, a living room. A room meant for sitting and watching a television or listening to a radio. Furniture warehouses are full of comfy couches whose designs are influenced by a mass market’s desire to sit and watch TV.
Computers changed the way offices were designed, as well as homes.
New pieces of furniture and architectural considerations came into play due to computer usage. Old mediums were adapted to the new medium of computers such as the QWERTY keyboard. Schools have attempted to adjust to computers, but are still designed around a system built for writing.
Smartphones and tablets are the latest technology to changed our relationship to media.
Content comes in many forms but always through a rectangular 2D display. One we carry with us everywhere we go. A decade into this new medium we are seeing the affects rippling through society. Houses are designed differently now, access to information has increased the likelihood someone will move to a city where they can live, work, and play in a walkable area.
Work can be done remotely from most anywhere, location is losing its meaning in the realm of many businesses. Messages are sent to us via notifications that buzz in our pockets. No longer a steady stream of content via a TV, our smartphones can alert us at any time and anywhere.
Humans are reactionary, and our technology exploits our reactionary nature more than ever before.
The affect technology has on our actions is greater than ever. 50 years ago a suburban family would be disconnected from the world any time they chose to have the TV and radio turned off, now our phones rest in our pockets or on our tables even at meal time. 4G LTE wireless networks keep us constantly connected to the internet.
There is no disconnecting from media unless you actively choose to do so. A skill that isn’t likely to be taught in our schools or by busy parents.
Coming fast is a new medium, spatial computing.
Spatial computing is a medium that itself contains all previous mediums as well as unimagined new ones. What affect will this new interface have on society? What markets will crash and which will grow? How will policies change and countries adapt? All we can do today is speculate, but one thing is clear: change will happen as it always does, and this time it will happen faster than before, as it always has.
