How will the future of the online world look for us?

Technology has had a really positive influence on the development of new high-tech products, I mean, even a calculator had to be designed with the help of technology. However, a lot of studies suggest that new tech such as computers, iPads and iPhones are damaging not only our physical health but also our mental health.

Let’s take a look back at how the internet and the world wide web (WWW) actually came about. Even though commonly thought to be true, the WWW and internet are not actually the same thing. The WWW (created in the 1980s for public use) is one of several ways to retrieve information from the internet. Email is one of the first methods of internet communications, eventually leading us to social media and direct messaging.

95% of teens use a smartphone in 2022 according to pewresearch.org, which is a staggering figure. Lots believe that the phenomenon of technology will die in future generations, however, we can see that this might not be the case with how children are being brought up addicted to screens and the number for teen smartphone users rising every year.

A lot of our daily lives are spent online, even if you don’t realise it. If you’re in university, I’m sure you’ve had online lectures. Or even if you have a job, you might’ve had online meetings on Zoom. A lot of this was sped up by the effects of the pandemic, but the rise of working from home was increasing anyway due to developing technology and online resources. Other ways we spend our daily lives online is online shopping, in fact 27% of all buyers shop online according to tidio.com and facetiming apps as well. These may be super beneficial and easier to use but decrease real life interactions and could be diluting our perception of products being made because of the availability of next day shipping.

This may seem harmless when you first read it, however, excessive screen usage is associated with low sleep, poor stress regulation, anxiety and depression, plus overloads of the sensory system causing problems with attention. Countless studies have proven to us that time in nature is extremely important for your working memory and overall health, but what if we lived in an online world that was fully immersive?

Your first question may be like mine, how does that even work? Well, the Metaverse is a project that has been developing for years, with the first idea being established in 1992. You may recognise this due to Facebook’s recent rebranding to Meta. The metaverse is an online universe which we would access through augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR), using VR headsets for example. Some famous video games/APPs have already incorporated this in gameplay, such as Pokémon Go and Skyrim VR.

A fully immersive Metaverse would mean interacting with friends and family online but as if they are right with you, shopping, and even could go as far as work or school. This is a scary thought for a lot of people, especially with technology already being as damaging as it is to teens now, being able to edit and customise your own avatar may put even more stress on teenagers to look perfect in real life. 54% of tech innovators think that the Metaverse will in fact be fully immersive.

This could be a positive advancement to technology if used correctly, giving lots of people equal access to life, helping international businesses connect, and interacting with friends and family that live far from you. However, cyber security, privacy regulations and addictiveness do impose a massive risk, potentially damaging the lives of thousands.

So, what do you think? Would you live in a cyber world?