Does Apple Vision Pro foreshadow a future of loneliness?

 

Apple Vision Pro

At its World Wide Developers' Conference on June 5, 2023, Apple previewed the Vision Pro spatial computing headset, which might be the most "personal" device the tech giant has ever made. While industry analysts and tech YouTubers are divided over whether it is an augmented reality or virtual reality headset, I think the product demo that Apple showed at the event highlights how this headset could escalate the pandemic that nobody likes to talk about - loneliness. Watch the video below and you'll get a sense of what I'm referring to.

As you may have seen in the video above, the Apple Vision Pro is a marvel of technology and a pinnacle of miniaturization. However, all the use cases of this device are extremely individualistic to the point that what used to be group activities, like watching movies or sports, can only be enjoyed by a single Vision Pro user at a time. You might think that its $3,499 price tag would prevent this device from reaching mass adoption, but there are rumors that Apple is already working on a cheaper version for the masses.

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting all alone at home, wearing your Apple Vision headset. You could be immersed in any kind of entertainment (movie, TV show, video game, sports event, concert, etc.), but you would still be cut off from the outside world. Yes, video conferencing (FaceTime) is built into the visionOS that will power this device, but it is even more isolating. Not only are you speaking to your family or friends virtually, they won't even see the "real" you when you're wearing the headset! Using a version of the facial scanning technology (FaceID) that has been unlocking our iPhones since 2017, the Vision Pro will render a 3D persona of you that people will see when you're on a FaceTime call with them. Instead of "connecting people" (as Nokia's tagline used to be), nothing could disconnect them more than talking to virtual avatars in tiny windows that float around the room.

I'm sure Apple will bring some sort of SharePlay capabilities to visionOS, so that multiple Vision Pro users could watch the same content at the same time, but that just seems to be counterintuitive. When you're in the same room, why not take off your headsets and watch a regular television? Or, better yet, why not have a real conversation for a change?

Humans are a social species and the more we drift towards individualism, the more we yearn for social contact. Apple might just be trying to cater to a growing market of lonely people looking for some excitement in their otherwise dull lives, but that's just what every other business also does (looking at you Meta Quest).