Psychological and Social Impacts of Augmented Reality in the Workplace

Introduction

It is worth mentioning that augmented reality (AR) is a device that covers up a computer-produced picture or image on the operator's vision of the physical world. The AR helps to provide a composite view of the image presented. Notably, it is an interactive experience of the real world surroundings whose features are enlarged or made bigger by a computer produced perceptual data. In essence, the technology can be used on multiple sensory modalities such as audios, visual, somatosensory, olfactory, as well as haptic. The main value of the AR is that it brings digital world's components into a person's view of the real world. The sensory data given by AR can either be constructive or destructive. By constructive it means that it adds to the natural environment while by destructive, it means that masks the natural environment.

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In essence, augmented reality is causing a stir around the world as different people wonder how this latest technology is going to impact the people in different. As the technology continues to become more wide spread, it is evident that AR will have a great social and psychological impact in the workplace and professional or professional organizations. The reason is that AR is designed to provide the future that allows the consumers experience a reality that is based on people's desires and needs (Newman et al., 2012). In the work place psychological and social aspects are important to its success.

According to Piltch in his article, "augmented reality makes us more human, not less", he states that every major advance made in knowledge and especially in technologies involving storage and retrieval has disrupted the society in the way it handles different things. Although some people are frightened and concerned about the negative effects, they slowly realize that these innovations are made to improve and make easy the way things run both in the society and at the work place. One of the major ways that AR will impact the work place or professional organization is in its display of data. It is evident that this technology is better than the computers when it comes to the way it displays its data. The reason is that in AR, the display of data in every field of work will provide a dramatic view of how things play, work, and communicate in the organization. The AR in this case serves as a memory, teacher, and a library on an organization.

Additionally, in the work place, besides allowing the customers experience a reality that is founded on their personal desires and needs, it will also present the retailers with a whole different way in which they can engage and expand their ability as well as potential. Bonsor supports this idea by claiming that AR has been used for gaming long enough and it is time it was used to enhance business and the daily operations in the professional business world. He explains that this technology has greatly helped change the way the users see the world around them. Therefore, in like manner, it can be used in business to make retailers and customers see the business and how it operates by teaching and communicating to the people. He goes further to state that the possibilities of AR are endless and when combined with the mobile technology, it allows geo-tracking that provides customers with an amazing experience.

In the social aspect of businesses, AR will greatly impact businesses when it comes to advertising and marketing of different products using the device. According to Mariani, Sniderman, and Harr I their article "More real than reality: Transforming work through augmented reality", they examine that the devices can strongly be used as an application that is used to show the world that is being developed by offering a facial recognition software that businesses can quickly mainstream to showcase the products they are offering to the people. They go further to state that the AR technology offers businesses the platform where they can easily access, understand, and synthetize complex and valuable date easily and fast. Moreover, businesses can easily show it to their potential clients and teach it to them better than the humans can do. The reason is that the device can memorize and present the information better than humans can. Additionally, with the AR device in electronic and locomotive devices such as mobile phones and cars, the users will be able to navigate the world with ease. Such additional features in different products make it easy for businesses to advertise and market their products.

In the medicine field, AR technology is already being used to play an important role in the future of medicine. Some of the ways it is causing a great impact is in surgery where it has been used to perform successful surgeries. It is worth mentioning that the technology has allowed surgeries to be simplified, thus offering a safe environment for the patients. It also offers a safe experience and significantly reduces the chances of other medical issues arising after the operation. Through different apps patients and healthcare providers can gain information on different health issues such as eye health and also real time recognition of different chronic illnesses (Zhu, Hadadgar, Masiello, & Zary, 2014). In medical field, the AR as seen simplifies most of the medical procedures and helps assure quality healthcare to all the patients. It also offers a safe environment and experience for both the patients and the health providers.

Conclusion

However, with all the positive impacts of the AR, it is also true that it has it negative effects. However, the negative side of this new technology is in the safety of the users and especially businesses that require maximum privacy. In essence, AR exposes the users to an open view of the environment around them. Therefore, when a business is using the device, the environment around it is exposed for the world to see. Just like in the mobile software, the AR can offer criminals an open opportunity to develop different scams that they could use to victimize users unknowingly. According to Piltch, people are afraid that this new technology will offer criminals new and more complex ways to develop scams and in the end victimize innocent users of the technology. Luczak-Roesch, in his article examines that that there are a lot of disasters that would possibly come with AR (Luczak-Roesch, 2017). However, laws and guidelines can be put in place to minimize any potential harm that could be unleashed.

References

Bonsor, K. How Augmented Reality Works. [Web blog post]. Retrieved from How Augmented Reality Workshttps://computer.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality.htm

Luczak-Roesch, M. (2017). Towards an Understanding of the Effects of Augmented Reality Games on Disaster Management. arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.06610.

Mariani, J., Sniderman, B., Harr, C. (2017, July 31). More real than reality: Transforming work through augmented reality [Web blog post]. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/deloitte-review/issue-21/augmented-reality-at-workplace.html

Newman, G., Wiggins, A., Crall, A., Graham, E., Newman, S., & Crowston, K. (2012). The future of citizen science: emerging technologies and shifting paradigms. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10(6), 298-304.

Piltch, A. (2014, July 2). Augmented Reality Makes Us More Human, Not Less [Web blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.tomsguide.com/us/augmented-reality-future,news-19099.html

Zhu, E., Hadadgar, A., Masiello, I., & Zary, N. (2014). Augmented reality in healthcare education: an integrative review. PeerJ, 2, e469.