Can Virtual Reality End the Loneliness Epidemic?

Chris Brickler is the CIO of MyndVR, the Leading Provider of VR-Based Digital Therapeutic Experiences for the Aging Population. They have a grant from BVL, or Bowlers to Veterans Link, a 501c3, which is enabling them to donate virtual reality glasses to eight veterans homes in California.

In this interview Chris Bricker discusses his projects to use virtual reality to convince old folks’ homes’ residents that “happy days are here again,” and to treat veterans’ PTSD.

I push back, saying things like:

“An awful lot of people these days are basically just zombies walking around staring into these tiny little screens, their cell phones. And I guess I'll lay my cards on the table here. I'm one of those critics of technology. I'm one of those people that my friends all thought maybe I was actually the Unabomber back in the day.

“To me, the zombies walking around staring at their cell phones don't look very healthy. And the amount of screen time that kids have doesn't look healthy. And there's a lot of research corroborating these things.

“In the kinds of old folk homes that we have in the United States right now they usually get substandard care from very low wage people who don't care about them, not like their family members do. And of course that this is viewed as utterly barbaric by many of the people here in Morocco where I now live: ‘Parking people in old folks homes, are you kidding?! The family has the caregivers, the caregivers are always family, you always die surrounded by your family in your family home here in Morocco…’”

So is my skepticism justified? Or will Chris and others figure out how to use VR technology in life-enhancing ways? Listen and make up your own mind.

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