Apple’s Augmented Reality Headset ‘a Crime and a Tragedy’ for Kids, Critic Says

Apple’s Augmented Reality Headset ‘a Crime and a Tragedy’ for Kids, Critic Says
By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D., childrenshealthdefense.org, 15 June 20213

Tech giant Apple is calling its “mixed reality” headset, scheduled to hit the market in early 2024, “the most advanced personal electronics device ever.” But critics warned the headset will pose multiple threats, physical and emotional, to children.

Tech giant Apple is calling its “mixed-reality” headset, scheduled to hit the market in early 2024, “the most advanced personal electronics device ever.”

But critics warned the headset will pose multiple threats, physical and emotional, to children.

The “Apple Vision Pro,” priced at $3,499, will allow the wearer to toggle between augmented reality (AR) — which projects digital imagery on the physical surroundings while allowing the user to see objects in the real world — and virtual reality (VR), which immerses the user in a virtual world and limits their vision of their physical surroundings.

Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D., author of “Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom,” told The Defender:

“Depending on how seductive the experience is, it could lead to metaverse addiction. The possibility for addiction to a simulated reality is great, especially in the case of children [and] for those children who become addicted, psycho-social development will likely be adversely affected, if not distorted beyond recognition.”

Rectenwald said the headset “involves the overlaying of media over the perceptual field. That is, AR represents a hyper-mediated experience of the physical world that interposes information between users and their perceptual fields.”

He added:

“AR can and likely will be used to overlay interpretations of elements that accord with official state, corporate or corporate-state narratives, thus serving as an extension of mass media into the perceptual fields of individuals.

“In addition to AR’s advertising potential, it can also facilitate surreptitious or blatant propagandizing, especially given the preponderance of propaganda emanating from mainstream media.”

He also warned that there’s a high chance people may use Apple Vision Pro for escapism from the “real world.”

Apple — which in 2022 spent $9,360,000 in U.S. lobbying efforts — is partnering with Disney to make Disney+ streaming service available on the headset at launch.

The tech company also is partnering with Unity — a software company that makes gaming apps for adults and children — to bring Unity apps and games to the new headset.

The company said it is creating an “all-new App Store” specific to Apple Vision Pro “where users can discover apps and content from developers, and access hundreds of thousands of familiar iPhone and iPad apps that run great and automatically work with the new input system for Vision Pro.”

‘A crime and a tragedy’

Comedian and political commentator Russell Brand — said the device puts the wearer into a “dystopic illusion.”

In an episode of his podcast, “Stay Free,” Brand said Apple — “a corporation that’s more powerful than nations [and] therefore able to bias and influence laws — is pioneering “new realms where reality itself may be dominated.”

Brand said the AR/VR space is not a neutral domain — “It’s like a curated reality owned by a very, very powerful entity,” he said.

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