It's just a game. Kids will be kids.
You did irresponsible things when you were a kid too.
It's just the new generation's "thing."
Just like parties and sneaking out and all of the things in past generations.
Cope. It's just a lot of cope!
Folks have lots of excuses for why the Metaverse is no big deal. For why technology, screens, and handheld devices are not a problem for our culture, and how it is just a new wave of the "same-old same-old."
This is not true. Things are different. Things have changed. And if we don't change them back... there will be very unfortunate consequences in individual lives and in society at large.
The classic example here is the "it's just a tool" argument. If you have a hammer... some folks will use it to build things. Other will use it to commit crimes. Others will sit it down and leave it there. The tool only shows what is in the owner's heart and builds upon their interests and intentions.
Naturally, folks draw an analog to our technology. Phones are only a tool, the proverb goes. Social media is just a tool! You need to use it for good instead of evil! The Metaverse is just a tool!
Fine and well... except there is one very important difference...
These tools have agency. We talk often about "the algorithm." Today's modern tools have "a mind of their own." They are not just being used... they are using you. They have psychologists designing the best ways to get you back. To interrupt your life. To connect you into the system and monetize your time.
They are not the tool... you are. 😬
So even if we grant that these "tools" are really using us as we try to use them. (And are far better at it than we are!)
I can just turn it off, right? Turn the device off and go outside! "Touch grass" so to speak.
While that is true... and it is much harder than many would expect... it is also important to note that there are important factors in cognitive development and social management that do not "automatically correct" when you turn off the device.
As a result, here are five problems with the "metaverse" that are not fixed by turning off your device.
"You're connected." That message comes everywhere. Just about every enterprise company has some product called "Connect."
And social media promises us to connect to our friends.
Except nobody is connected. They all have their faces buried in their screens!
And they are used to this isolation. They think they are connected... but loneliness is at an all-time high in our culture!
Even if you turn off the device... not everyone else will! So bravo: you got out of the matrix. And now you are alone.
(It is not really this dire... but depending on your friend network - it can be!)
Building a dependence on something does not turn off when the device does.
You are still hooked. Withdrawals will start. And other things will have lost their lustre!
Because they are not near as "entertaining" as these little devices are designed to be.
The real world does not offer you rewards every 30 seconds.
You need to work for them. And it can take years!
Which brings us to a really important problem... that folks are decreasingly willing to work hard for something.
This partly goes back to the dopamine, but it also speaks to comfort.
The proverbial statement is "Hard times make hard men. Hard men make soft times. Soft times make soft men. Soft men make hard times."
We are in an era of soft men. Who are making hard times.
Creating a generation who is not ready to deal with the challenges that are coming.
We must reject this shortcoming and seek out challenges! Seek out work! Delay gratification!
In so doing... we can change the world!
Who knew that quality friendships and relationships took work? That being able to 'work a room' did have work and skill involved?
And how is that skill acquired? Over time... with effort... and failure.
All of the things that are less desirable and increasingly rare in the newer, technology-obsessed generations.
As the moral fabric of the society unravels, most folks (rightly) expected licentiousness to increase!
What has happened has shocked everyone. Intimacy and relationships and birth rate are dropping even faster than before!
Because of a sudden increase in morality? "Revival" perhaps!?
Not even close. Because nobody is talking in real life. Nobody is connecting.
They are all meeting their "needs" with fake and base forms of reality by themselves with a screen in their hands.
There is a lot that needs to be done. But it starts with awareness.
If you feel frustrated or powerless... don't! You have taken the first step! Let's start a movement where we share the problems with the world and start designing a better future! There are a bunch of people at work on this future...
There is a lot of work to do. But it is totally within our power to do so!!