I confess. I do not quite get what virtual reality (VR) headsets really accomplish. Oh, I do understand that it’s about the experience of “like being there” while not really “there.” We simply enter into the artificial world that expert technicians create. Here’s one writer’s description of virtual reality: “VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world” (Brian Jackson).
I guess the 3D experience of an artificial world can be quite entertaining. But when I watch the ads that promote VR headsets, I experience another kind of entertainment. It’s watching people with VR headsets reacting to what they see—jumping up and screaming, falling off their chair, waving their hands as if to shoo away a swarm of insects, and many such actions. What makes it entertaining is that they look silly because they are responding to something that is not really there.
I’m sure there are other, more productive, applications for VR technology, but using a VR headset for entertainment is not something that catches my interest at this time. I pass for now.
Yet thinking about VR gives rise to some reflections about how we may become content with experiencing what is “virtual” and “artificial,” and never really get around to know and experience what is real and authentic.
One such area where this seems to be developing is the experience of community. It has been said that social media tends to build a virtual community. There may be heightened interaction with others, yet at the same time have decreased intimacy. One writer describes it as being “alone together” (Sherry Turkle). We may feel connected, but really may be more distant because we may be interacting not with real persons but more with “profiles” that are “often the fantasy of who we want to be.”
Sadly, we extend our tendency toward virtual reality even in our Christian life. Our experience of God is not first-hand. We are content to ride along with the picture of God created by “experts”—like our favorite pastor, preacher, teacher, Bible scholar, or even our parents. Of course, they may provide some reliable information about God. But unless we get to know God for ourselves, and to experience his transforming work in our lives, then we face the danger of having a Christianity that is nothing more than virtual reality.
—Keith Y. Jainga