Are you familiar with the term, Digital Depersonalization? I was not familiar with the term prior to this class, but it’s something I became more aware of as I learned more about the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, which showcases increased immersion into the digital world as an exciting new frontier. Digital Depersonalization is well synthesized by Psychology Today as the “dissociation between the factual ‘I’ in the bathroom mirror and the virtually constructed ‘I’ in Instagram. . . Inside the cyber-world, there is no check with reality, not through the touch of the literally tangible material objects, not through the metaphorically tangible real relationship with real people1. ”
A common subject of study today is the impact of technology on the mental wellness of youth. This is a subject many psychologists are working to get a grasp on because the age that we are in today with social media, augmented reality, beauty filters, and photoshop differs greatly from the era that much the study of psychology was created and documented.
Today, youth are born into a society that lives in at least two realities. That of the physical world and that of the numerous digital worlds you can occupy. We who were born before the ubiquity and accessibility of the internet understand that there is much to not be trusted online but many youths are not socialized this way. At every age, you are susceptible to comparing yourself to the perfection displayed online, but there are many kids who have not had the time or opportunity to create the discernment to be able to understand what is real and what is not. Kids are likely most in danger of digital depersonalization but with the COVID-19 pandemic, all of us were thrown into the experiment of what it is like to live many different digital and physical existences at once. Societally we are already seeing the dangerous effects as “over-reliance on technology can damage our children’s self-esteem, slow their relationship development, create a lack of empathy, and hinder their emotional development.2” Web 2.0 is already eroding the mental health, what is our reality as we go into the Metaverse?
With the Metaverse, the days of switching between your professional self-identity (LinkedIn), to your family self-identity (Facebook), to your friend self-identity (Instagram and/or TikTok) are gone. “The Metaverse, an expansive network of persistent, real-time rendered 3D worlds and simulations that support continuity of identity, objects, history, payments, and entitlements, and can be experienced synchronously by an effectively unlimited number of users, each with an individual sense of presence.3” As the Metaverse becomes a place where we can spend a larger portion of our life within the digital world, people will be enabled to create a comprehensive digital self-identity that is more aligned with who they see themselves as. Unlike the digital experiences of Web 2.0 applications, which force users to create multiple identities to inhabit them and disjointly traverse between the physical realm to other digital applications, the Metaverse will allow for digital fluidity, reducing users’ need to compare their physical self with their digital identity and grapple with the limitations of their material self. Thus, achieving true telepresence — defined as an immersive state that allows a person to feel present in a virtual space4.
In this way, the creation of a digital self-identity reduces many of the barriers people face in the real-world to become who they want to be, minimizing and potentially eliminating the ugliest of human biases, such as gender norms and racism. In the same spirit, as employers look to the Metaverse to create new workspaces, employees would be afforded more career opportunities as it reduces the impact of geography and language barriers. Coupled with the added benefit of reducing human’s ability to be biased toward identities, the Metaverse could be a path towards achieving the goals of meritocracy. A person born in New Delhi, India could theoretically be a chairperson for LVMH.
In addition to the ability to immerse oneself within the metaverse and integrate digital worlds, the metaverse would potentially be the first trust-less society through the power of blockchain technology and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). People would, perhaps, be more likely to interact with more people outside of their social circles, further opening the doors for people to judge others based on their utility and merit versus their outer appearance or family background. All of these technological advancements and benefits to inhabiting the metaverse would incentivize users to spend more time as their digital-self and reduce the need to grapple with the reality of their material, physical self. Users could live an entirely fulfilling life in the Metaverse.
As mentioned with the opening of this paper we can already see that there are already negative effects of Web 2.0 but there are likely going to be a few benefits that will come out of having a ubiquitous immersion into the metaverse. With the metaverse, there are a few negative elements of the real and digital world that we occupy today that can be mitigated such as racism, bias, and gender inequity. Online there might be a direct extension of oneself which then would not mitigate the negative elements listed but if the general standard of the metaverse leans towards expression that is identity agnostic we have the opportunity for people to be fairly judged by their output and actions. Today there are many spaces that claim that they operate in a meritocracy, but it has been proven repeatedly that biases are present which do not make this possible – I have faith that in the metaverse it finally might be possible.
Unfortunately, something that we believe is more important than the possible realization of meritocracy in the workplace is the degradation of dating due to relationship anxiety induced by the dissociation of self in the metaverse. One thing that cannot be replaced by the digital world is the physical human-to-human connection we crave in romantic relationships. Although we will see relationships start in the metaverse, they will always end in the physical. Since the metaverse will give us the opportunity to reflect our virtual selves in the image of our personal ideal, it may differ from what our reality is. Online a woman may make themselves have a size DD cup size when in reality they have AA, a man may make themselves 6’4” while in reality he is 5’7”. It is very possible that these two people may form a deep romantic connection online but when it comes time to meet in person, they may fear rejection. This is an extreme example but even today this is an issue with online dating where there has been an increase in relationship anxiety around meeting someone that has been matched with online because of the fear that they will not think that you look like what you have curated as your best online5. Dating in the metaverse is a frontier that should have psychologists quaking as in 2032 the complexities of dating will be compounded with insecurities that we can’t even envision the magnitude of yet.
On top of further aggravating relationship anxiety, the metaverse could add complexity to defining relationship boundaries, such as infidelity. A user may be in love and more intellectually stimulated by their digital partner but more attracted to their romantic partner. With more time spent in the digital world, who takes precedence over another? Will relationship norms be skewed to understand and accept the difference, or will this birth a type of digital polygamy? Lastly, what would this mean for reproduction? Would people opt to have children sooner to move onto their digital lives, like a rite of passage or would it altogether be harder to have children causing an overall decline in population? These implications of complicated dating norms are not so far off. Japan has noted that new technological advance such as, LovePlus, a dating simulator, has added to their declining population problem, as men can take solace in digital girlfriends. In addition, social attitudes towards the hassle of dating and sex have been noted by young citizens as a reason they are not married or interested in sex. As the metaverse grows, a way to incorporate our physical self must be considered or what we gain in meritocracy may be the first nail in the coffin of humanity.
Sources
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-search-self/201801/digital- depersonalization#:~:text=Inside%20the%20cyber%2Dworld%2C%20there,reality%20implies%20element s%20of%20depersonalization; https://psyarxiv.com/8jver
- https://www.claritycgc.org/too-much-of-a-good-thing-the-impact-of-technology-on-teens-mental-wellness/
- https://medium.com/sylo-io/identity-and-the-metaverse-7e7ac65fc3bd
- https://chain.link/education/metaverse
- https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/08/tinder-self-esteem
Danielle Regis is a former engineer that likes to talk too much to remain a software developer. She is passionate about leaving an impact on this world through working on solving societal problems through technology.
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