My View

With help of various articles and videos I have given you multiple insights to the concerns of Augmented Reality. Although this amazing kind of new technology has many positive purposes, it definitely brings dangers along. Dangers which could, on short- and on long term, hurt individuals but also society as a whole. Not yet convinced? Let’s sum up some of the most serious concerns!

If we invent and develop new technology, we should be aware of the environment. Just because technology is often related to innovation, doesn’t mean it innovative. And this means that we are not helping the earth as much as we should. In contrast; “We discard 20 to 50 million tons of technotrash worldwide every year, which amounts to about 5% of all solid waste”(Soltan, n.d.). As long as we don’t have the technology to reduce this ‘technotrash’, we shouldn’t try to invent other electronics which only makes it worse. We all live together on this planet, so we have to be responsible.

Now let’s look to a negative consequence on a more individual level: physical health. Despite the fact that there is movement involved in the working of AR and VR, it will still result in a worse health for most people. This is due to the indoor concept of most games. Instead of going to the gym or taking a walk around the block, people will more likely tend to stay at home. We saw the same when other technologies, such as computers and smartphones, came available for consumers. And remember what I told you about Pokémon GO? That was definitely an AR game which lured people outside. But because of the major distraction the mobile devices in peoples hand caused, many people were killed. Now the ‘health issues’ of staying inside suddenly don’t seem so bad.

From physical issues regarding to one’s health we are going over to the mental issues AR can cause. There has been very little research done on this field, however, the results are very likely to be the same as comparable internet addiction. The merging of AR and VR could make this problem significant bigger. Why? Because AR includes way more intense experiences with more possibilities to share your social life online. People are getting depressed nowadays because they have the feeling they are less than others. They see this on a screen in their hands. But with the functions of AR they will see this as a second layer in their own world, not on a screen. Therefore, the personal issues related to one’s mental state will increase rapidly in a very negative way. We should get rid of all the influencers before they appear in our own living room.

Finally; all the concerns related to privacy and security. Eye tracking in order to get  inside the mind of an AR user, altering reality which can make a person feel secluded and the existence of deepfakes to manipulate people. These concerns are just speculations of the things that could happen because Augmented Reality devices aren’t common with consumers. However, this is very likely to change in the next few years. We should be aware of these concerns. Bianca Soare listed the three main things we have to remember regarding to security and privacy risks:

• Don’t disclose information that is too personal or unnecessary.
• Review privacy policies
• Make sure you are using the internet safely
  
  
  (Soare, 2019)

In conclusion, we can be proud of mankind to turn its creativity into something quite amazing. Augmented Reality can be used for a tremendous amount of purposes. It might even save lives in the future. But right now, it is more likely to take lives. That’s why we should be really responsible in the next decades. AR is something many of us don’t even understand yet, while the older generation still has trouble with texting on a smartphone. The technological revolution is going so incredible fast and we have to make sure we are one step ahead of it!

References: 

(Soare, B. 2019, June 25. What are the Security and Privacy Risks of VR and AR. https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/vr-ar-security-privacy-risks/)

(Soltan, L. (n.d.) Sad Facts on Technotrash or E-waste. http://www.digitalresponsibility.org/sad-facts-on-technotrash)