Modelling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be of many use to us. It can be used for gaming, social connection, business, rehabilitation, entertainment, and even learning. Virtual worlds however, has its pros and cons. According to the article "Avatar II: The Hospital" goes onto explaining how virtual worlds can be used to train staff in the medical field for real life situations. This is a great example of how it can be used for educational purposes.
As for a con, there's a huge change that we can miss out on the human interaction we need ever so often if we spend too much time in these virtual worlds. Diane Mehta states in the article "After the Second Life. Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?" that out of the 2 billion accounts registered to virtual worlds, half of them are owned by children age 5-15. If these children spend an excessive amount of time socializing in virtual worlds, they might lack the social skills and real-life interactions they need as they develop. This will of course affect how they communicate in person as they got older.

Aside from the negative, virtual worlds can foster creativity. Diane Mehta goes onto explaining how the virtual world Mine craft, allows kids to exercise their imagination and be motivated to build and create things. This is very beneficial for their cognitive skills. In the future, I believe that virtual worlds will be put to use by more and more companies and be used for more purposes. I think it will become so common and popular that everyone might prefer to interact via virtual worlds instead of in person since it can be much more convenient. I know I would rather socialize in the comfort of my own home than to actually take the time out to travel and meet up with my friends.

Citations

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/#53bc0194735a

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204