Until recently, ‘to walk in someone else’s shoes’ was only a saying meant to help people gain perspective on the lives of others. It was a statement of imagination. However this is no longer true. The days where thinking about the experiences of others have now evolved with the help of virtual reality. Now we can literally ‘walk in someone else’s shoes’. We can see what they see, interact with what they interact, and be given the freedom to roam and act within their environment and situation.
In an interesting talk during this year’s New York Tech Crunch Disrupt Fred Wilson touched upon the topic of The Machine to be Another: an artistic project that put people in different and controversial situations they wouldn’t be able to access through simply watching the news or a documentary. Most of us haven’t been soldiers on a battlefield, disabled, or elderly. None of us have ever looked into the mirror and seen another face- except those using virtual reality to “be another”.
Virtual reality gives us the option to remove what little distance there is that a camera and TV screen leaves us when we watch the news. VR journalism is a term describing the new ways to put viewers directly in on the front lines in Syria or in blast radius of tear gas during a protest. VR journalism removes us from our third party positions and turns us into participants. Instead of watching journalists or narrative documentaries, VR journalist allows views to hear a story by being in it instead of being told.
In situations such as violent crime, it has the power to make us not only feel what it feels like to be a victim, but also to feel what it feels like to be the assailant. Take for example the report of an armed robbery. It’s easy to assume what it would be like to experience what the victim experiences: fear, anxiety, helplessness. But to experience a burglary through the perspective of the burglar makes for an interesting spin on how we empathize. What does a criminal experience while committing a crime? Sometimes we forget that empathy is a two way street. It’s an emotion that can be experienced not only for those victimized but also for those who are creating victims.
What implications does this have on our psychology? In a world where we can (almost) physically occupy the situations of others, how does our deepened sense of empathy have an effect on our daily lives? What’s remarkable about virtual reality is that it’s applications are proving to exceed merely areas of film and entertainment. It’s proving to be useful to society and to public psychology.
If VR journalism can put a Trump supporter in the shoes of an illegal immigrant, or a pro-life activist in the shoes of young woman getting an abortion, how will this affect common controversies in today’s society? How will it affect the way an individual draws their conclusion?
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Khai
August 18, 2016 at 9:00 pm
That is an interesting interpretation of how Virtual Reality can apply to health and journalism. It is an interesting take to finally walk in someone’s shoes and understand a new layer of information that’s often misunderstood.