The last two decades have been marked by a more or less optimistic view of how technology will change our lives. But recently, we’ve also seen studies on the detrimental effects of screens on child development, the new phenomena of device addiction, and the many reports of data breaches. Now, with the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal dominating headlines, we have to collectively start considering the very real threats posed by our digital future.
As I read these news stories, I’ve been thinking critically about the technology I work with every day: mixed reality (MR). Obviously, my colleagues and I are excited about the potential for MR to transform the world, and the retail sector in particular.
But I think it’s also important that we — and everyone developing new technologies – consider the ways things might go wrong. When we’re honest with ourselves about that, we’ll be more likely to develop protections that keep everyone safer. Here are some ideas about what we might see as MR gains popularity — and how we can maximize the odds of a best-case scenario.
Greater consumption
If someone told you 20 years ago that people of the future would pay real money for tokens in digital games, you might have laughed. But here we are, making in-app purchases and otherwise living very different lives than we did in 1998, thanks largely to the smartphone.
I won’t make a value judgment, but I do think it’s likely that an MR-saturated world will be one where overall consumption rises. Research on the way our brains process images of food suggests that the more pictures of food we see, the more we want to eat. And research on teenagers shows that exposure to images of people smoking e-cigarettes increases their desire to do the same — in fact, the study found that exposure led to an “immediate, increased, and lasting desire” to smoke (emphasis mine).
The lesson here seems to be that seeing boosts desire. As mixed reality makes it easier to see not only images but also 3D renderings of virtually anything, we’re likely to crave what we see more keenly. And chances are we will consume more as a result.
The smartphone led to an entirely new realm of consumable experiences, and I anticipate mixed reality will do the same. People will pay real money for virtual goods just as we now make in-app purchases. Imagine buying fancy accessories (watches, hats, tattoos) that are only visible to those wearing smart glasses or that only show up in digital images.
This is good news for retailers, certainly. And it also suggests there will be a whole new horizon of jobs created, which I like to remind people when they say all our jobs are going to be taken by robots (remember, no one worked for app companies 20 years ago).
But there are also downsides. The mining required to produce new devices can have serious environmental consequences, and e-waste is already causing air, water, and soil pollution around the world. Increasing the number and type of devices available will likely only accelerate these problems.
Unless, that is, we’re prepared. Let’s assume smart glasses become as ubiquitous as smartphones. Someone could build an app that lets consumers see the environmental impact of products and their packaging while they’re still on the shelf — and even the best way to dispose of that product. This would put pressure on consumers (and ultimately manufacturers) to reduce waste at all points of production.
Greater empathy and mental awareness
Let’s stick with smart glasses and other “hybrid reality” scenarios MR might enable for a minute. Sure, we might see the insularity I mentioned as higher-income people find additional status symbols in an MR universe. In an even more extreme scenario, we might see something akin to the world of Ready Player One, where depletion of natural resources has pushed us to exist primarily in a virtual world.
But if we proactively manage our resources and anticipate potential MR applications, we might also see positive outcomes.
Mixed reality applications are already being leveraged to teach empathy. Because of the technology’s inherent ability to make you feel like you’re inside whatever world has been created for you, it can allow the user to experience something from a new perspective.
At the University of New England, mixed reality simulations are letting nursing students gain a “holistic understanding of patients with vision impairment or hearing loss.” And that’s just one of the many uses for mixed reality in the medical field. Beyond medicine, we’re seeing MR used to help students learn how others live across the world, and to train first responders how to cope with stress. I suspect we’ll see much more of these types of applications in our future.
Fewer ‘Trust Me’ business decisions
More and more industries these days rely on data to make business decisions, but some industries (especially those where gathering data is time-consuming or expensive) are still at the mercy of leaders’ gut instincts.
Retail is one such industry. Reorganizing a store in an effort to improve sales used to be an expensive, slow effort. MR products have transformed that experience, for instance, letting retailers set up and test layouts in a matter of hours rather than months.
Again and again, we see our clients’ amazement (and relief) when the less expensive, simpler shelf layout or store arrangement concept performs better than the top-shelf, top-dollar option they were planning on investing in.
As mixed reality makes it easier to test more complex, real-life scenarios, more business leaders will be able to make evidence-based decisions.
Video games as exercise
Remember Pokémon Go? While some found the onslaught of phone-clutching teenagers running around parks and neighborhoods annoying, the game was actually credited with getting a somewhat sedentary demographic off their couches and outside.
With MR devices widely available, I expect we’ll see more examples of such games, and on a bigger scale. Instead of arcades, video game meeting spots might be wide open spaces or something like Crossfit gyms, where players engage in physical activity that corresponds with virtual or augmented challenges. This could have a significant positive impact on improving health outcomes for many people.
But Wait, There’s More!
I’m barely scratching the surface here, of course. Just as we couldn’t have anticipated all the ways smartphones changed our lives, we won’t really understand the MR future until we live it. The important lesson: we must go in with open eyes, as ready to address new problems as we are to embrace new opportunities.
Mark Hardy is CEO of InContext, the global leader in mixed reality solutions for total retail optimization and shopper engagement.
