Not long ago, technologies such as VR, AR & XR were made out to be the evil villain that will take over the world and turn humans into spineless slaves. The greatest strength and weakness of technology lies in the hands of the people who are in charge of it. Turns out it’s in good hands.
Throughout world history, people have struggled to restore peace over the world. It appears that virtual reality might be the answer to that.
VR is a powerful tool as it can trick the brain into thinking that whatever you’re experiencing is happening in the real life. This staggering influence over the human mind shows that a lot can be done in that direction. With carefully designed programs, VR can lead the juvenile inmates to learn a balanced lifestyle and smoothen the transition from jail to free life. Some of the correctional institutions have taken note of the capacity of virtual reality in helping the prison inmates to transition back into society.
Much like training employees, VR can train inmates to handle their anxiety and how to be in a large crowd. Not only will it teach them nominal day-to-day tasks, but it is also expected to reduce the probability of their relapse. More often than not, ex-cons go back to their unruly ways because they find it hard to connect with the reality of their society. If we can get rid of the underlying reasons and better prepare the inmates then it’s possible that their outside survival will be more successful with diminished chances of relapse.
This is particularly crucial for the inmates who have spent decades behind the bars and have no clue of how far the world has come along. Allowing them to move to the outside world without equipping them with the latest knowledge of survival will be nothing short of cruelty.
This VR practice is still in the experimental stage and there are no known results. But, to create a wholesome society, it is definitely worth a shot to explore its potential.