Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, changed the company’s name to Meta in October 2021 and pledged to invest billions in the metaverse. The magnificent virtual world known as the metaverse has given rise to grave safety issues.
Online harassment, assaults, bullying, and hate crimes are already commonplace, and there aren’t many channels for reporting this behavior. According to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, a violent incident happens once every seven minutes in the well-known virtual reality game VRChat. Because virtual reality immerses users in an all-encompassing digital universe where everything is made to feel more real and sensory sensations are enhanced, this type of unwanted behavior can be more severe than typical internet harassment and bullying. Because occurrences happen in real-time and frequently go unrecorded, misbehavior in virtual reality is typically harder to monitor.
Simply expressed, the purpose of the Metaverse is to construct a new universe, or Metaverse, within our own. It can be made with the aid of several apps or video games. Social media will undergo several changes as a result of the Metaverse system. Numerous negatives will result from these adjustments.
The main drawback of the metaverse is how disconnected it makes people feel from reality. People will become isolated from the actual world and dependent on the metaverse. This will significantly disturb daily life for most individuals, and they will continue to contrast the actual world with the virtual one while also experiencing despair there. Here are some of the negative effects of the metaverse:
Internet harassment and Dehumanization
With Metaverse, users report that everything seems more authentic. When using it, a Metaverse user is totally submerged in it. In this instance, it becomes even more distressing when a user is a target of cyberbullying.
There is no way to stop the harassment of cyberbullying through participation in any political or social activities. A Metaverse user might become emotionally distressed if he experiences cyberbullying in this situation.
Because metaverses are starting to resemble real-world environments more and more, bullying, insults, and harassment there could become almost as close, uncomfortable, and mentally damaging as in the actual world.
The perceived remoteness, anonymity, and division brought on by the internet can bring out the worst in people. Humans treat one another inhumanely on the internet and social media as if they were communicating with robots whose purpose was to psychologically devastate people. The intensity of this kind of activity might be amplified by the metaverse.
Because metaverses are starting to resemble real-world environments more and more, bullying, insults, and harassment there could become almost as close, uncomfortable, and mentally damaging as in the actual world.
The metaverse will still be accessible online at the same time. Due to the intrinsic anonymity, perceived distance, and absence of repercussions that have any actual relevance to the internet, the metaverse is likely to remain to be a place that produces trolls in excess.
The worst of all worlds is delivered by harassment in the metaverse, which may be as prevalent as it is on the regular internet while also appearing to be just as real as harassment that takes place in real life.
Possibility of Addiction
The reason why people are becoming more and more addicted to the Internet is that businesses have built their algorithms in such a way that consumers will return frequently and spend more time on it. A media platform will make more money from displaying people’s adverts if they stay on the platform longer.
It is simple to presume that Metaverse will use the same economic structure.
We can predict the impact this tactic will have on a user through the Metaverse with a little consideration. The actual world will seem very faint to you while you are in a virtual environment where you can do whatever you want.
Companies in control of the metaverse will have complete knowledge of you
Today’s gold is data. Currently, the big data sector is worth approximately $200 billion annually. Companies will want a piece of that data goldmine if users start using the metaverse even half as frequently as they do the conventional internet today. They will pounce on creating the metaverse and gaining control of it like ravenous wolves. The battle to control the upcoming large data store, which may be the biggest ever, may perhaps be more important than the race to construct the metaverse that we are currently witnessing. We’ve given internet corporations knowledge of our personal information over the past few years, whether consciously or unknowingly.
The organizations in charge of governing, policing, and censoring the metaverse will be able to learn every single detail about you if you spend the majority of your time there. They will be able to see up close and personal whatever you do during the day. Even worse, they might learn more about you than you do about yourself.
Your eye and facial emotions will be tracked by technology in Meta’s next revolutionary VR headset, “Project Cambria”. It’s very likely that someone will gather this important information, just as they already do with information on where you click and hover your mouse on a website and how long you pause when scrolling through your newsfeed.
Your genuine feelings about many issues will be understood by the owners of your metaverse data. They will be able to hear everything you say, as well as the tone and expression of your voice. As you speak or hear things, they will be able to watch your facial expressions and eye movements. They may eventually be able to observe your physiological responses to various visual and aural stimuli (dilated pupils, flushed face, etc.).
The organizations in charge of governing, policing, and censoring the metaverse will be able to learn every single detail about you. They will be able to see up close and personal whatever you do during the day. Even worse, they might learn more about you than you do about yourself.
It is possible for them to learn your true passions and fears through voice and biometric analysis. For media outlets, powerful businesses, and governments that frequently employ strategies for widespread public opinion manipulation, this kind of data would be especially valuable. Companies might then produce media content that arouses the greatest degree of fervor or terror, as this is the kind of content that typically receives the highest level of participation. They’ll be able to manipulate and persuade you after they know everything there is to know about you.
Most likely, advanced AIs capable of simultaneously gathering, classifying, organizing, storing, and possibly selling data from hundreds of millions of users will carry out all of the intricate data collection and categorization in the metaverse through lightning-quick algorithmic procedures. Naturally, businesses will also be able to pinpoint the specific goods and services you are most likely to purchase thanks to data collection.
The Distinction Between Your Metaverse “Reality” and Actual Reality Is Growing
People can now search for and consume just content online that they agree with, ignoring content to the contrary. To take this a step further, social media companies frequently employ algorithms to try and only present you with information that you find appealing, as this is what produces the highest levels of content interaction. One of the main reasons for today’s societal divisions is this component of the internet.
In the metaverse, you will only be exposed to complete realities that you agree with, as opposed to only posts, articles, and videos that you agree with.
In your virtual environment, you might eliminate everything with which you disagree. Perhaps the hard realities of life don’t appeal to you; you could prefer to live in a world where nothing makes you consider anything that gives you the willies. The metaverse will make sure that your “perfect reality” is protected from reminders of social concerns and opinions that you don’t want to think about in order to elicit the most involvement from you.
There might be nothing and nobody to contradict your perception of reality in your uniquely crafted version of the metaverse. There won’t be any opportunities for you to evaluate other viewpoints or empathize with others. You have the power to make anything in your reality go away forever if it doesn’t accord with your mental schemas. Consider the psychological impact that prolonged existence in a “perfect reality” created only for you might have.
What if, after living for a while in your “ideal world,” you finally decide to venture out into the real world? How on earth would you be able to mix and converse with so many different kinds of people?
What if, after living for a while in your “ideal world,” you finally decide to venture out into the real world? How on earth would you be able to mix and converse with so many different kinds of people? How would you survive in a world where people don’t always act the way you would expect them to?
It will probably be a rather rude surprise when you finally remove your VR headset and interact with the outside world. You will find real-life more challenging the longer you spend building and residing in your custom-tailored metaverse “world.”
People will eventually desire to spend an increasing amount of time in their customized metaverse “realities” in order to avoid the progressively more unpleasant experience of adjusting to actual reality. It might start to seem uncannily like a drug addiction cycle. Many people could develop a reluctance to wake up from happy dreams, similar to drug addicts.
The hazards of the metaverse are likely to be overshadowed by the huge number of individuals who are fixated on how it might affect the future as the buzz surrounding it grows. After reading this article, we hope you are aware of some of the potential risks the metaverse poses.
