Into the Metaverse: A virtual universe could pose a threat to society

Trips to the grocery store while sitting in your living room. Surfing tidal waves with friends in your suburban basement. Touring Paris from the comfort of your car. 

These experiences could soon become a reality — all thanks to the metaverse, a virtual reality world that allows users to interact, work, shop and game. Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls the metaverse the “next evolution of social connection.”

Sounds great, right?

But not everyone’s as excited as Zuckerberg. Following the announcement of his plans to create the metaverse, concerns arose from users on Instagram and TikTok, who fear a completely immersive virtual reality will lead to an unhealthy desire to “plug in” to escape real-world issues — not to mention even more power in the hands of money-hungry corporations.

Yes, the metaverse presents the concept of a shiny new reality, but we should be cautious since we can’t predict every real-life repercussion of this virtual “paradise.” Most importantly, we should be aware of what this universe entails before ordering a $500 gleaming new VR headset, complete with over 250 games, Bluetooth connection and a not-so-far-away threat to society.

Living in an ideal world where someone can alter their appearance and personality — basically their whole identity — may sound appealing to a generation used to comparing themselves to others on social media. But what happens to the less fortunate who can’t afford this new reality? 

If we forget about real life and spend our days living in another world, then attempts to solve global issues like climate change and world hunger will become obsolete. In the face of the infinite possibilities of a virtual space, the unlucky real-worlders will be left to fend for themselves.

As the world crumbles, we’ll be busy staring at shiny icons floating in the air through augmented reality or buying clothes at a virtual shopping mall instead of actually going outside. Real, unfiltered life will go extinct. 

But pixels can’t replace reality.

In an interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg boasted that his envisioned universe is about being “engaged more naturally” rather than spending more time online. 

Naturally?

There’s nothing natural about doing everything — school, work, socializing — while sitting in your bed with goggles on. While we can already shop, text and play through our phones, doing these things through an avatar in a glossy, pixelated world will only further detach us from reality.

Then there are the privacy and security issues. 

Platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Zoom have already been criticized for invading users’ privacy by collecting and selling their data. In a virtual world that people are supposed to do everything in, companies and hackers will have even more access to users’ information for advertisements, identity theft or some new form of cyber-related crime — it would be a whole new terrain for personal data theft.

We still haven’t fully uncovered the long-term effects of social media, which is just as fresh as our generation. But, according to the Mayo Clinic, social media has led to increased suicides, lowered self esteem and more depression and anxiety symptoms in teens — all unexpected results of a handheld communication device. No one could have predicted these trends.

Who knows what the consequences of an online universe will be?

We’re not ready. Maybe we never will be — but this new reality is coming whether our generation wants it or not.

Video games that now use AR and real-world simulations have made the budding metaverse a product marketed toward Gen Z and below — the ones who will actually have to deal with the potential dystopia left by middle-aged, greedy business owners.

We’ve seen aspects of the virtual realm through games like Roblox and Fortnite that have immersive gaming, virtual concerts and in-game currencies, but issues with these early metaverses are already apparent. 

Roblox has been under fire in the past for allowing children to be exposed to violent and sexually-explicit content despite their safety filters, according to Today. Fortnite doesn’t block out profanity or racist slurs during live audio communication between players. It’s already difficult to regulate individual games like these, and not much stands between children and far worse content in an entire virtual universe. 

On top of the issue of content filtering, the metaverse may amplify self-confidence issues already present in adolescents due to social media. Tweaking each feature and hand-selecting everything from a perfectly shaped nose to your eye color will only deepen the pressure for teens to conform to a certain beauty standard. If you thought the effects of today’s social media were bad, just wait to see what happens when steps to change your look go beyond Facetune and filters — we won’t even recognize each other anymore.

The ability for anyone to alter their appearance creates a new threat to children who don’t know better than to trust what they see online. Nothing would stop any adult from selecting a young appearance and preying on children — something many have overlooked in the frenzy for a new virtual existence.

Excited gamers and investors looking to make a fortune through a sprouting economic gold mine are already hooked onto the idea of the metaverse. But everyone needs to understand that they’re slowly detaching themselves from real-world problems and risking their privacy when they put on the black plastic goggles and download their brain into this “new life.”

We can’t just surrender to every product that big companies like Facebook markets to us.

When you’re fresh out of college or starting a new life, don’t jump right into the new metaverse that will likely exist by then. Think about the consequences 20 years down the road, when you see your kids with their eyes glossed over and mouth hanging open, stumbling around tables and chairs and kicking a soccer ball that isn’t there. 

Don’t say we — or hundreds of sci-fi movies and books — didn’t warn you.