Apple’s new Vision Pro device was released to U.S. consumers earlier this month to mixed reviews. 

The headset is designed to allow users to play games and complete productive tasks on a computer strapped to their head rather than in front of them. 

Marketed as “a spatial computer that blends digital content and apps into your physical space, and lets you navigate using your eyes, hands, and voice,” according to the user guide, the Apple Vision Pros build on virtual reality and augmented reality technology to create what they have defined as a “spatial computing device”. 

User Scott Stein had a great experience with the new technology. “I experienced incredible fidelity, surprising video quality and a really smooth interface,” Stein said. 

Marketed as a productivity device, many of the features are targeted to allow for increased efficiency. Science teacher  and Vision Pro user Craig Parker believes that the technology allows for easier multitasking. “I can have a Safari window open while also having a Mac window open and I can just move those things around to resize him as I want,” Parker explained.

Additionally, the lack of spatial restrictions allows for many more functions to be pulled up at once. “Here at work I’ve got two screens. But [on the Vision Pros], I’m not limited to just two screens. I can have eight screens, and be going back and forth between them,” he added.

Those with other Apple products benefit from additional productivity features. Parker’s devices have connected seamlessly. “It actually will work with my Mac. So if I had my Mac computer in front, …you could have connected right to the Mac, and then the Mac screen would have been a resizable window in the vision Pro, and you can move that around and resize it, type on the keyboard, use your trackpad to control what’s going on there,” he said.

Some professionals have high hopes for the future of this technology. Jens Klessiek, medical researcher at Essen University Hospital, believes that eye-tracking technology may have uses in the medical field when diagnosing conditions such as vertigo or catching early signs of stroke or dementia. “You have different eye movements and these can be detected using such a device,” said Klessiek.

Many see wearable AR technology as the future of technology. Dima Damen, professor of computer vision at the University of Bristol, compared the device to the iPhone, arguing that it might have a similar impact and change on society. “This type of technology might actually give us shortcuts to making things better,” Damen said.

But it’s not all positive. Damen highlighted some concerns as well, “That projection can be manipulated in any way…you might think you’re seeing the world but you’re not.”

Senior Samantha Kruse agrees, arguing that the marketing of the product might contribute to its overuse. 

“I don’t think [Vision Pros are] any different than a pair of VR goggles but Apple markets them as something you can wear all the time and to do your work and make you more productive.” Kruse remarked. 

This concern about the increasing reliance on technology extends past the Vision Pros. According to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, “Researchers have found evidence that people who overuse technology may develop similar brain chemistry and neural patterning to those who are addicted to substances.”

As this type of device gains popularity, concerns are arising about its potential impact on these technological addictions. 

Even users can see the drawbacks to this technology. “We already have problems with people getting absorbed in their cell phones, ignoring everything going on around them. This is going to take that I think to a whole other level,” Parker said.

“Ready Player One,” a science fiction novel by Ernest Cline, details a future in which a technologically dependent society uses advanced AR technology to avoid reality using headsets very similar in appearance and function to the new Vision Pros.

Kruse recently read “Ready Player One” in her genre of adaptations class, and noted some similarities as well.

 “[Apple Vision Pros] just reminded me of in “Ready Player One” how they have the Oasis with their goggles and how basically everyone lives in them all the time. Which is kind of what Apple seems to be going for- they want people to be able to wear them whenever,” said Kruse.

But still, Kruse remains hopeful that this technology won’t lead us to a dystopian future. “For right now,” she said, “I think we’re all sane enough to not rely on it.”