The development of virtual reality:

Wrongly associated with video games and still sometimes considered as a cutting-edge technology, virtual reality is gradually becoming more democratic. Whether it is through concrete cases, studies or testimonies, we are going to present you concrete impacts of virtual reality. So we can ask ourselves, what is the impact of virtual reality on our society?

The growth of virtual reality

AsVonguru's article points out: "The health crisis has put the spotlight back on VR. New uses such as the amounts invested, the billions of Facebook... show that VR will not disappear. The size of the market continues to grow. According tothe VR market research report, it reached $6.1 billion in 2016. Despite a drop in 2020 due to the pandemic, it is expected to reach 21.6% between 2020 and 2027. The big brands are betting on these technologies like Sony or Microsoft.

Promising figures of the impact of virtual reality on our society:

According to the PWC report (Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2021-2025), "the growth of virtual reality will continue and increase far more than any other media sector. "This report highlights a 31.7% increase in global revenues in 2020 compared to 2019. That's an additional $1.8 billion! Meanwhile, MarketsandMarkets anticipates "annual growth of close to 28% between 2020 and 2025". This would make VR the fastest-growing media segment, ahead of podcasts, online video and games. Beyond the figures provided by analysis firms, virtual reality is already seeing real cases and returns on investment.

Concrete cases and talking ROI:

The impact of virtual reality at Walmart

Photo credits: Futurism.comWalmart uses VR on a daily basis to support its employees in their training, particularly in soft skills. "With the pandemic, we're wondering how workers are engaging and interacting with customers," said Heather Durtschi, senior director of learning, content design and development at Walmart in the Human Resource Executivearticle .Walmart used virtual reality training to help them prepare for these incidents, practice empathy and minimize stress during this difficult time.How can virtual reality help boost the employee experience?These training modules allow them to react to certain situations, then go back and analyze their reactions, "putting themselves in the other person's shoes" before it even happens.With more than 20,000 Oculus headsets spread across the country, that's now more than a million Walmart associates who can take advantage of immersive training sessions. According to Derek Belch, founder and CEO of Strivr: "You can do an eight-hour training session and reduce it to 15 minutes in a headset, the learning outcome will be almost identical." "It's a return on investment that's not in doubt.

RV medical training in the USA

In parallel, in one of the most prestigious clinics in the world (Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences), part of the medical training is now done in VR.The virtual reality goggles allow students to be immersed in real-life scenarios, such as an operating room... This helps them become familiar with their environment. Throughout the program, thanks to VR, students are able to:

• Assess patients
• To establish diagnoses
• To recommend treatments.

These two examples show that virtual reality goes far beyond simple video games. It allows for technological advances and considerable time savings in training and learning. In more general areas, other people have been convinced for much longer that virtual reality is the future of our society.

The impact of virtual reality in our society as seen by visionaries :

The democratization of virtual reality

Unity CEO John Riccitiello is emphatic: "virtual and augmented reality devices will be as commonplace by 2030 as video game consoles." A sobering phrase when you consider that his predictions have often turned out to be true.Mark Zuckerberg has always had many ideas about the future of virtual reality. Interviewed at the Viva technology trade show, he quotes: "in the end, VR will end up occupying an important place in the next big computing platform, after phones and PCs....."Often a visionary when it comes to immersive technologies,he goes even further. In a recent interview conducted by the verge, he explains that he wants "tomake Facebook a key company in the 'metaverse' by 2026". The metaverse enables more immersive experiences, blurring the barrier between the real and the virtual. Finally, if there's one other thing that virtual reality will unlock, it's the ability to live wherever you want, and to be present in another place while having the sensation of actually being there. Just like clinic students in the USA or Walmart employees, VR enables us to "teleport" ourselves to another place and thus learn and educate in the best possible way: in total immersion.All these technological advances, use cases and studies show us that, yes, virtual reality does have a real impact on our society, and that it continues to grow and democratize.

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