Immersive Illness

            "A challenge that concerns me the most is lurking on the horizon, one we don't yet understand the full scope of. As Immersive Education and other forms of personal virtual reality become more realistic and compelling we're going to see "immersive illness" become more common and more difficult to deal with. Although this is an issue today we're somewhat protected by the limitations of today's personal computers and game consoles (they just aren't powerful enough...yet), but in another decade or more it'll be a different story altogether. Nobody knows exactly what impact insanely realistic, media-rich virtual reality will have on society. We're already dealing with early forms of immersive illness, such as addiction, alienation, mental schisms, and more, but today it's not a problem that affects a large percentage of users. We don't see massive problems today for a number of reasons, including rather low-quality virtual environments and limitations on how much time we spend in these environments. But what happens when the visual and audio quality becomes indistinguishable from reality, the technology becomes truly mainstream, and a substantial portion of education takes place in such environments and not in a real classroom? With massive power comes massive problems. Last week I was asked how big this problem will be, and I responded that nobody knows for sure but I'd estimate that the at-risk population can be calculate by adding the percentage of people with addiction problems to the percentage of society that suffer some form of mental illness. That's a big chunk of society. Is it all gloom and doom? Certainly not, but it's a grand challenge we're not even remotely prepared for today. As with other disruptions society will eventually adapt, but I think we're in for a very rough ride."
                                                                                                        - Professor Aaron Walsh

Professor Aaron Walsh from the interview "Virtual reality and higher education: Another perspective" at  terranova.blogs.com

My first thought about Immersive illness is that it is not a big deal. I mean how can one become so absorbed in a screen or virtual system that it starts to negatively affect their health? But as I begin to think about it I can understand how it can become an addiction. Some video games today are so immersive that a user can play them for hours without realizing how much time has passed. I remember when I first started playing Skyrim. There is so much to do and it is so interesting that I would play for 3-4 hours without realizing it.

                Believe it or not people have actually died from video games.  A Taiwanese boy played the game Diablo 3 for 40 consecutive hours. That is nearly two days’ worth of constant gaming. It was determined that he died from a blood clot after sitting for so long. The problem with the games nowadays is that they are so realistic it’s hard to remember that you are in fact just playing a video game. I can understand how somebody can become so entrenched in video games and virtual realities.

              Other possible reasons for Immersive Illness is that a person could be trying to escape their actual lives. Virtual reality allows a person to create the perfect version of themselves. In this world they are important. Life can be hard sometimes so I understand why some people would try to escape it by using VR.  As we as a society become more technology based I can see Immersive Illness becoming a serious concern. Graphics are becoming so realistic that it can become hard to differentiate the difference between real and virtual reality.