Virtual Reality

themselves in the fictitious world, but they have not addressed their problems. They feel that they are losing control over their real world, which causes them to feel sharp inner pain. They feel worthless; however, they might not have anyone to talk about their feelings since they have already become alienated from their friends and family. Therefore, virtual reality traps people into a vicious circle: the more time they spend online in chats, the more isolated they are and the more depression and loneliness they experience in their real life.

Sherry Turkle cites another example of a typical victim of virtual reality, Stewart, who spent most of his time in the MUDs. Stewart decided to resort to MUDs because he realized

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that his “real” social life was not satisfactory. He viewed himself as worthless and unimportant to others. However, he created a totally different image of himself in virtual reality. He depicted himself as outgoing, romantic, and brave. Nevertheless, Turkle says that “for Stewart, playing on MUDs led to a net drop in self-esteem…MUDdnig did not alter Stewart’s sense of himself as withdrawn, unappealing, and flawed” (681). Turkle’s example proves that resorting to virtual reality is not a way out; on the contrary, it is a source of mental problems, such as depression, lowering of self-esteem, and further withdrawal from the society.

My own virtual reality experience allowed me judge the difficulty of returning to the real world from comforting imaginary reality. I was not indulging in using virtual reality to escape from my “problems”; therefore, I did not experience any signs of depression or loss of inner harmony when returning to the real world. However, it was fairly hard for me to get back to the real world because my virtual self was different from my real self. My virtual self, Annette was a twenty-year-old girl that had already achieved success in the field of psychology at such a young age. She was a confident, intelligent, and self-satisfied individual who was living in harmony with herself. She had a chance to spend a lot of time doing what she really enjoyed: thinking, talking to friends, and travel all around the world. Since I created my virtual persona to be someone of my dreams, I felt like my dreams had come true. Each time I finished writing my post, I felt that I was being deceived by the two realities. I realized that I have to deal with the difficult “real” reality, but all my hopes and dreams were realized in another, virtual, reality. Therefore, my own virtual reality experience proves that resorting to the fictional world elevates the feeling of discomfort, and, more often, depression.

How do current technological developments change people’s lives? It is true that they benefit the society by speeding up communication and allowing people to create

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different personas online and act upon them without fearing others’ judgment. However, development of Internet and virtual reality has also isolated people from the real world, thus subjecting them to such psychological tribulations as depression and loss of connection with others. By intending to help people, digital technologies make people’s lives miserable. People, whose inner harmony was destroyed by excessive Internet use, are no longer able to be active and creative members of the society. The world we live in today is not perfect; there is much injustice, war, poverty, and hunger to be eradicated. People who have plunged into the virtual reality are so isolated, depressed, and disconnected from others that they are lost for the society. These Internet users are not able to solve everyday problems and improve life around them. Our society is in danger of falling into the abyss of virtuality. If people do not understand this and move away from the abyss, the human society will fall apart.

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Works Cited

The Matrix. Dir. Larry and Andy Wachowski. Perf. Keana Reeves, Laurence Fishborne, Carie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. Videocassette. Warner Bros., 1999.

Stoll, Clifford. “Isolated by the Internet”. Mind Readings: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. Gary Colombo. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 648-655.

Turkle, Sherry. “Who Am We?” Mind Readings: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. Gary Colombo. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 675-687.