The main problem is precisely the alienation from the outside world that surrounds us , it is not a problem to be overcome, already today many of us struggle to use headphones, as they prevent us from hearing what is happening around us. If in the environment there are people we know and with whom we relate, the psychological difficulty of isolating ourselves becomes even stronger. Virtual reality to achieve maximum involvement must disconnect all our senses from the reality where we are , make us feel one hundred percent, in another place, in another body. This will create anxiety, fears and a sense of loss, on the contrary AR points to the opposite extreme.
With augmented reality it will be possible one day while visiting a foreign country, to receive tourist information and curiosities in our language and translations in real time , overcoming one of the major limits of current communication: linguistic and cultural differences. No less are the professional possibilities through wearable devices and less masochistic than those of virtual reality, we will be able to receive or give instructions remotely to deal with an emergency in the correct way. The future will not be the alienation from reality, but the fusion of the digital world with the analog one.
True, projects like Google Glass have failed, not for lack of interest but for a technological problem. Recently Ray-Ban and Luxottica also launched smart glasses on the market, which do not have enough functions to make us live in AR, but are a small and timid step towards the future that awaits us.
Could the metaverse one day exist? Yes, but as places of entertainment, the plural is not accidental, there will be more virtual worlds where you can have fun and even practice some eSports. However, it will remain bound to the playful sphere, perhaps some professional application in the world of simulations, but nothing more.