A self centered society and the introduction of AR

There was a time when people had no choice but to socialize with strangers on trains and on bus stops or waiting in line at the store. These days we are so glued to our devices we are missing many opportunities to not only talk to new people, but talk to the people already in our lives.

It seems that technology has robbed us of the ability to socially interact with people the same way we once did. I believe with the growth of wearable AR devices it will only get worse. These devices may have a beneficial impact on learning, medicine, and other areas, but like many technologies, overuse will only make our day to day social lives worse. According to a Pew study 30% have used their phone to avoid interacting with the people around them.(http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/08/15/americans-and-their-cell-phones/)

I've personally done it. I've seen someone I didn't feel like saying hi to and looked down at my phone pretending to be occupied to avoid the interaction. People could have used a magazine or other sort of distraction in the past, but having smart phones has made it easier. We've become to reliant on these devices, we do not know how to behave without them.

We are, generally speaking, self centered people. We are consumed with broadcasting our positive moments and with taking our selfies and publishing the best ones. I don't know that the selfish and narcissistic behavior is all to blame on technology but our society is much more "me" driven  than it once was and the use of technology to avoid social interactions is increasing. It may not even be intentional.

I've heard of people bumping into things because they are looking down at their phone and not paying attention and we have all heard about how many car accidents happen because people are texting. There are obvious and less obvious social behaviors that are being dramatically impacted by our self centeredness and our distraction.

Augmented Reality's Effectiveness in Treating Phobias

 Written by Joe Stangarone

Augmented reality holds a lot of promise for the future in terms of convenience and productivity. It also stands to be very beneficial in many areas of medicine as well. Given augmented reality's immersive experience and ability to blend the real world with the virtual, the field of psychology will by no means be left out of the many benefits augmented reality has to offer.

One area of psychology in particular that may benefit from augmented reality is the treatment of phobias. Treating people with certain phobias can be a daunting task. This is especially true when it comes to dealing with phobias that involve insects or other animals. Treatment at some point will involve exposure to the phobia, and in the case of live animals, that exposure can be difficult to control. Animals, especially insects, can be very unpredictable. Because of this, therapist can run into trouble during the exposure phase of treatment - which can be a critical time for the patient's progress in overcoming their phobias. The animals may not act in the patient's best interest and there is a real element of danger for the patient in some cases. Furthermore, the exposure can involve gaining access to difficult or impossible places to reach, or the exposure sometimes may have to be in a public setting. All of which can make this portion of the treatment more difficult than it needs to be.

Fortunately, augmented reality can help mitigate all these issues, as a promising program developed by M. Carmen Juan, Mariano Alcañiz, and Carlos Monserrat at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Cristina Botella at the Universitat Jaume I and Rosa M. Baños and Belen Guerrero at the Universidad de Valencia has shown. With this program therapists were able to overlay virtual insects upon the real world. Not only were the therapists able to control the number and actions of the virtual insects, they were able to do it in the environment of their choosing with no danger introduced to the patients. This augmented reality system also holds an advantage over fully virtual reality systems because with it the patiences see their actual hands, arms and surrounding environment. Because of this, the experience of being exposed to their virtual phobias feels more real, hence advancing the treatment more efficiently.

This program holds a lot of promise for the future treatment of phobias. This was stated not only by the individuals responsible for its design, but by the patients as well. Anxiety scores were greatly lowered after the treatment, and the time needed to reduce the patient's fear was shorter than other VR experiments. Furthermore, a questionnaire filled out by all patients in the study showed that they felt completely immersed in the experience, with feelings of anxiety equal to what they would have experienced had the insects been real.

Augmented reality is a technology in its infancy and  is already showing great potential for the treatment of phobias. With this and other areas of health, it is not hard to predict that augmented reality has the potential to make the real world a better place for many people.