That said, Chapter 2 “You Are What You Eat” contains some nuggets for people to ponder about the risk of VR, including learning bad behavior from others and escaping the real world for too long. Being present in a virtual world takes one’s attention away from his own body. The power of presence–the mental transportation into a virtual world–has a useful side effect: absence. Examples include changing a person’s worldview for the better, becoming better at your job or a sport through lots of practice in a simulation, the fun of visiting a virtual world rich with things to discover, or changing the perception of pain by distracting someone: The majority of the book’s 10 chapters are devoted to focusing on what VR can do to help society. “How do we walk the line and leverage what is amazing about VR, without falling prey to the bad parts?”.“What is the effect of replacing social contact with virtual social contact over long periods of time?”.

“When we consider that the subjects were made uncomfortable by the idea of administering fake electric shocks, what can we expect people will feel when they are engaging all sorts of fantasy violence and mayhem in virtual reality?”.How many individuals are not meeting their potential because they lack the access to good instruction and learning tools?”.“How educationally effective are field trips in VR? What are the design principles that should guide these types of experiences?”.“The best way to use it responsibly is to be educated about what it is capable of, and to know how to use it - as a developer or a user - responsibly,” Bailenson wrote in the book.

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