Virtual Reality & Confining Illness

I've recently moved and my roommate is a technophile, there's some pretty impressive technology here. One of which is a top notch VR system he spent thousands on. Yesterday he let me try it, I was amazed. I've always been very interested in virtual reality, I didn't think it'd come to fruition in my life time when I was young. Now it's actually here. Although VR can be dizzying it can be an amazing way to cope with being inside and not being able to see the world. I know alot of us use Google Earth and Street View but VR takes it to the next level. Now an expensive system may not be financially feasible for most of us but VR can range from $3 to $2,000+ . Hands down I loved using the expensive system, sunlight changed where I put my "hands" and they had a shadow, I was actually able to take walks in Spain and Alaska, I sat in a traditional Japanese room. The system detected when I was about to hit a wall in the real world and I would just turn around or teleport to the other side of the room and walk around some more, I could lean into and get closer to magazines and trophy displays and read the titles as if I was there. It was amazing, I played my music in the background and got some light exercise walking around my living room whilst simultaneously seeing the world. 

Before this, I bought a $3 Google Cardboard VR, they usually sell for 7-15 but I bought a better one for cheaper.

VR Headset for $3

At first I didn't like it - but that's because I set it up wrong. At it's worst it will look like you are looking at  movie theatre screen. When I pushed the lenses back I was able to travel the world. Both systems looked kind of like looking through binoculars but it was a lot of fun.

I ventured off to new york, a few islands, icy mountain ranges and even outer space. I saw different artists perform right in front of my eyes and stood on the stage at Lollapalooza when it was streamed live through VR 180 video a couple weeks ago. It is a gorgeous experience. I do wish that it would move with you as the other system does and I wish it didn't bother my eyes so much but like with anything in the chronic illness life I just pace myself. But being able to see this world when it has been taken away is a blessing. 

I definitely recommend trying Virtual reality to help cope with having to be inside so often or all the time. I have only begun to dive into the virtual reality world recently, I know that there are already ways to socialize inside virtual reality but I have not seen a lot of that just yet.