The success of Pokémon GO has shown the potential of augmented reality (AR) technology, but the privacy issues, social changes, and increased dependency that it will bring require careful preparation. It’s important to carefully analyze how AR will change our lives and work to solve the problems.
The promise and challenges of augmented reality
On January 24, 2017, Pokémon GO, an augmented reality (AR) mobile game, was released in South Korea. Pokémon GO, a game that lets players catch Pokémon while walking or traveling outdoors, was widely predicted to be a flop during the cold winter months. However, contrary to expectations, Pokémon GO made waves across South Korea, attracting 5 million users within five days of its release. Many people were busy catching Pokémon on their smartphones when they went outside, and the excitement didn’t die down for a while. How is the power of augmented reality changing our society now? And is what we’ve experienced with Pokémon GO all there is to augmented reality?
What is augmented reality?
Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that adds additional information to the real world as you see it, in real time, and presents it as a single image. At its core, the technology superimposes a three-dimensional virtual image on top of a real-world image or background. Think of Pokémon GO and you’ll get the idea. When you catch a Pokémon in the game, you activate the AR feature and the background becomes the real world as captured by your smartphone’s camera, and virtual Pokémon appear on top of it, making it look like you’re in the real world.
While augmented reality is not yet widely commercialized, it is being used in a variety of fields. Aside from the aforementioned Pokémon GO, a prime example is IKEA’s “IKEA Catalog” application. This app allows users to virtually place furniture in their home before actually purchasing it. There’s also a virtual makeup application called YouCam Makeup, which allows users to virtually try on different makeup styles by simply pointing a camera at their face. This way, you can find the makeup that suits you without having to go to a cosmetic store. As you can see, augmented reality technology is making our lives easier in many different areas.
The potential of augmented reality and its limitations
The possibilities of augmented reality are endless. More AR-based games and applications will emerge in the future, and the technology will penetrate deeper into our daily lives. AR can revolutionize many fields, including education, healthcare, architecture, and entertainment. For example, in education, students will be able to experience the content of textbooks in augmented reality to gain a deeper understanding; in healthcare, pre-operative simulations will allow for more precise surgeries; and in architecture, architects and clients will be able to review and modify virtual models in real time, making projects more efficient.
However, augmented reality is not always beneficial. It would be a big mistake to believe that what we experience is all there is to this technology. The information and convenience that AR provides changes our lives, but in the process, we face privacy and security issues. For example, there are situations where AR applications can track a user’s location or recognize a face in the camera, exposing the person’s identity. This can lead to serious issues such as privacy breaches, and users are at risk of being unknowingly subjected to excessive surveillance.
Furthermore, as augmented reality technology advances, we will become increasingly dependent on it. In a world overloaded with information, people may no longer ask for biographical information in a conversation with someone they’re meeting for the first time, but instead check their information right on their smartphone. Even when it comes to buying furniture or household items, we will no longer visit a store, but will be able to virtually lay them out in an AR application and make a purchase decision. This could put traditional brick-and-mortar stores in economic difficulties and even cause them to disappear. This means that while new technologies can bring convenience to our daily lives, they can also disrupt the existing order.
The future of augmented reality and our attitude
Like the internet, robots, artificial intelligence, and more, augmented reality is a technology that could revolutionize our lives. However, as with any technology, there are side effects and challenges that can come with it. We shouldn’t just embrace technological advances, but recognize the potential risks and work to address them. It’s clear that augmented reality technology will continue to make our lives easier, but we need to think carefully about issues like privacy, security, and social change along the way.
In the end, it’s our choices and responses that will determine how augmented reality technology will shape our future. It’s important to make the most of the benefits of the technology, but also to address the issues that may arise wisely. It’s time to look carefully at the dangers behind the convenience that augmented reality offers and work to improve them. Otherwise, we could be leaving ourselves vulnerable to the potential threats that augmented reality brings.
It’s time to take a closer look at how augmented reality can impact our daily lives and society as a whole, and prepare for it, so that it doesn’t just end up being an interesting technology.
