What The Metaverse Means for Mental Health and Digital Addiction : Family Addiction Specialist: Addiction Counselor

" 2022 is here, and technology companies are racing to develop a new digital world – the Metaverse. While the technology of the Metaverse has existed for quite some time, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, the infrastructure and platforms for widespread use are still in its infancy and visionaries of what the Metaverse is to become in the future will assure you that this new digital world is just getting started. As such, it is difficult to determine what exactly the mental health implications of the Metaverse are and what conclusions can be drawn to the impact it will have on digital addiction. Nonetheless, it’s never too early to begin a conversation surrounding this topic of Metaverse addiction and the impact the Metaverse will have on mental health and digital addictions as a whole.

What Is The Metaverse?

You may have heard about the Metaverse, but what exactly is it? Wrapping ones’ mind around the Metaverse is probably akin to what it was like understanding the internet in the 1970’s. Put broadly, the Metaverse is a shift in how we interact with technology. If we think of the internet as two-dimensional, we can think of the Metaverse as three-dimensional. It is an immersive experience through the use of digital selves, or avatars. The Metaverse can include the use of augmented reality and/or virtual reality to allow users the experience of being “inside” the internet interacting digitally with other individuals, objects, assets and environments. As with all technology, there is sure to be a vast array of mental, physical and emotional benefits in the future of the Metaverse, but there are also bound to be negative side-effects and drawdowns. One such problem we can anticipate is an exacerbation of an already growing mental health epidemic and digital addiction epidemic surrounding the future of what the Metaverse is to bring..." Lire la suite