The following article of mine was published in the latest issue (No. 1 | 2012) of the Journal of CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation, a publication of the Interactive Media Institute. Please check out the entire issue for a fascinating and in-depth collection of article on the use of augmented reality in health care.
Social media have forever altered the way that humans in general, and North Americans in particular, relate to each other. By supplying us with new tools to shape our own reputations and personas, the same media have changed the way we represent and understand ourselves, as well. Now we find ourselves on the cusp of a new digital revolution—the moment at which “augmented reality” (or “AR”) technology will liberate electronic data from two-dimensional screens and infuse our physical surroundings with digital content. There is every reason to expect that this development will further “augment” our perceptions of each other and ourselves.
It is already a given that most North Americans use Facebook, Twitter, or some other venue for online expression. These sites tie information we choose to reveal about ourselves together with content—such as photos, messages, or shared locations—that our acquaintances have decided to associate with us. We all realize on some level that the resulting pastiche of information is not entirely within our control, and that it can sometimes create unwanted perceptions of us. But there is at least some comfort in knowing that the whole exchange takes place “out there,” in a virtual place that is less tangible and somehow less “real” because it is accessible only through the screen of a desktop computer or mobile device.
AR, however, promises to tear down the walls between our digital and physical lives. No longer will individuals in our digital social networks need to “look us up” online to discover what is revealed about us there. Rather, they will merely need to quite literally “look up” at us through an AR-equipped mobile device—most likely one embedded in the eyewear on their faces. They will see virtual information about us displayed as if it is floating in mid-air over our physical selves. By merely waving a hand, a person standing in front of us might access our Facebook profiles or recent activities, or use a search engine to discover anything the internet may have to say about us. For the first time, we will interact with each other’s physical and digital personas simultaneously. The comforting chasm between our multiple personas will disappear, to the disconcertion of many.
The effect is likely to be particularly pronounced for Americans, who have long championed the public’s collective right to share and access information online. Even those individuals who are comfortable with the knowledge that sensitive, personal information about them is available “out there” somewhere are likely to gain a new appreciation for the European view of privacy when that data is aggregated and made to appear as if it is floating over their heads as they walk down the street.
Experiences like these sound tantalizingly novel in the context of fiction, where they have been explored for decades. Now that our digital and physical realities are actually beginning to blend, however, society as a whole will need to develop new norms to minimize the resulting feelings of awkwardness and intrusion. The adjustments that social media required of us are likely to seem trite by comparison.
