Is Your Social Life Worth $3499? Apple’s Vision Pro Will Be The Ultimate Litmus Test For “I’m OK Being Lonely” Inc.

I shouldn’t joke about loneliness because it’s a serious problem in the lives of many people, but the type of tech behind Meta’s Quest Pro & Apple’s new Vision Pro are the ultimate products that promote such a recluse lifestyle. There’s simply no other way to put it.

Or maybe somebody with considerable more intellectual clout, cultural and political authority than myself is needed to drive home this point. Somebody like United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy. In a recent press release detailing a framework for how the country should address what he refers to as an “epidemic” of loneliness and isolation, his comments carry tremendous weight.

“Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal health. Our relationships are a source of healing and well-being hiding in plain sight – one that can help us live healthier, more fulfilled, and more productive lives.”

“Given the significant health consequences of loneliness and isolation, we must prioritize building social connection the same way we have prioritized other critical public health issues such as tobacco, obesity, and substance use disorders. Together, we can build a country that’s healthier, more resilient, less lonely, and more connected.“

Dr. Vivek Murthy, New Surgeon General Advisory Raises Alarm about the Devastating Impact of the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation in the United States

Curiously enough, the article referenced above goes about to “establish a National Strategy to Advance Social Connection based on six foundational pillars” in which the 6th pillar takes a shot at Big Tech: “We must critically evaluate our relationship with technology and ensure that how we interact digitally does not detract from meaningful and healing connection with others.”

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s some technology that is truly transformative, but the iterative process in which a lot of modern technology is created leaves little room for negative societal effects of the products in development. I guess you can say the same for all types of technology that has ever been developed to a certain extent. There are positives and negatives, but people who aspire to “make the world a better place” seem to consistently overlook the negatives. Instead business processes that are followed to develop products, whether apps, phones or other “smart” devices, turn its focus on various “key performance metrics” like profitability and stakeholder likes and dislikes as opposed to “what’s the research behind a person sitting all alone in a room staring at a screen all day?” Let’s just say, as long as there’s funding and enough customers are willing and able to acquire the next version of the product in question, the product will get the green light from a development standpoint.

This always makes me think of a comment Twitter co-founder Evan Williams made a while back of what qualifies as a reasonable product to develop in the internet age:

“Con­veni­ence on the inter­net is basic­ally achieved by two things: speed, and cog­nit­ive ease . . . If you study what the really big things on the inter­net are, you real­ize they are mas­ters at mak­ing things fast and not mak­ing people think.”

Evan Williams, Wired Magazine

Is the tech industry showing signs of suffering from tech-bro version of man-with-a-hammer syndrome? If there’s a problem (or maybe it’s a particular type of problem for certain demographic), there is always a technological solution. The only way to protect society from one industry using its tools to solve all our problems is unfortunately increased regulation, but good luck with that one.

In the context of high-powered headsets: What was usually a weekend family movie night at home (assuming you are a family of 4 and have $14K to drop on a home theater upgrade—an upgrade that you can wear on your head) turns into a movie night where everyone puts on a headset and enjoys a fully immersive experience in which you aren’t simply watching something flying through outer-space, but you actually feel like you’re out there in space yourself! Forget about studios making great stories that make us think potentially uncomfortable thoughts—it’s all about fully immersive experiences.

If Apple were to iterate on the Vision Pro following the usual business practices, what’s next in the pipeline? An upgrade to the headset that gives you a sensation of getting wet—maybe a $300 spritzer? Or maybe a $800 scent emitter that will give the user the ability to smell certain things at the right moment during a movie? Anything goes, as long as people are put at a cognitive ease and don’t have to think too much, I guess.

At the end of the day, these product will probably sell like hotcakes during the holiday season (hey Apple isn’t the world’s largest company by market capitalization for no reason!), but it should come with a label on the box that reads, “Warning! This product may cause you to feel more lonely and isolated.”