If you're not familiar with the concept of shifting, it's basically the belief that one can leave their current reality and enter a designated reality of their choosing through extensive scripting and some sort of lucid dreaming. I don't know all of the mechanics behind how this supposedly works, but when I first started seeing videos about it online I was fascinated. I am a big fan of Harry Potter, and for a good three months, my for you page was dominated by people reality shifting to Hogwarts. I don't necessarily believe in reality shifting, but I find the idea of it so interesting. The number of people who were posting videos of how they spent years at Hogwarts in their designated reality during one night of sleep in the real world was mindblowing to me. And even more intriguing was the real-life effects they seemed to face after returning. Videos describing the horrible anxiety they felt about returning to their real lives, or the debilitating depression they felt upon leaving and missing their friends along with the feeling of isolation from their physical body as they had apparently spent years living as a different version of themselves was insane. I have a bit of an escapism problem myself and would be lying if I said I didn't see the appeal in being able to abandon my actual life to frolic around Hogwarts, but the aftermath seemed brutal. The cynical part of me has trouble believing that any of these stories of shifting are actually true and that they were made up chasing some sort of delusion or even internet fame, but the pain these shifters were feeling seemed weirdly genuine.
As I've made clear throughout this post, I find this really interesting. But, I also find it kind of scary. What does it say about the state of our actual world that people are so desperate to escape they will (depending on your beliefs around shifting) either literally shift realities or create these elaborate delusions through maladaptive daydreaming. If virtual reality technology keeps advancing to the point of being able to foster shared experiences with realistic graphics will people choose to live out their lives in these virtual worlds rather than face reality?
When I was in middle school, I read a book called Ready Player One. It's set in 2045 and features an extremely elaborate and immersive virtual reality system that the majority of people spend most if not all of their time in. At the time I remember thinking it felt almost post-apocalyptic and like something that would never actually be our reality. Now I'm not so sure. As the shifting craze demonstrates, people are so desperate to escape their reality that they will literally attempt to shift worlds. If a virtual reality system like the one in Ready Player One actually existed, I think it would be horrifying to see how many people would choose to live as a virtual avatar rather than continue as their physical being. I can't say that I wouldn't at least try it. When the question was posed in class about if virtual reality was better than reality I was quick to think the answer was no, but if the option was placed in front of me would I be able to say the same thing? I don't know. Is it possible that virtual reality will become our actual reality even further blurring our idea of what is real?
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