One of the aspects of Virtual Reality that makes it so compelling and useful is it’s ability to fool your mind into believing that the simulated experience is real, or real enough.  In the demonstrations I’ve been doing with student’s I have them “Walk the Plank” virtually, and sometimes they have a real visceral reaction.  There were some folks who tried to walk the plank and couldn’t finish, they just could not overcome the fear that they felt.  To them that fear is real, even though the danger is not.

This past week this video kept popping up in my suggested feed and I kept ignoring it.  The video was about a mother who lost their child and was virtually reunited using VR technology.  I avoided watching the video at first, but since it kept popping up I relented and clicked.  To be honest, I found it too emotional and could only skip through.  It’s rather heart breaking, and here it is if you dare, I still haven’t watched the entirety myself.

I’m not going to break down the video, it’s not really my area of expertise, however here’s an article from VR Scout, an outfit my friend Bobby often writes for, that explains this better than I ever could.

If you take away anything from this I think it should be how VR can have a deep emotional impact on people.  At the end of the video, the woman’s daughter turns into a butterfly and flies away.  For someone who is having difficulty letting go, I can imagine that this could be an incredibly effective treatment.  As VR technology progresses I see more and more uses like this.