Reality 2.0 – Part 1

For a long time, it seemed inevitable that the future of the internet—and by extension, communication—would revolve around immersive 3D environments. The vision of digital worlds, reminiscent of Ready Player One, or the early promises of the metaverse through blockchain and VR, painted a future where people would step into entirely new realities rather than simply interact through screens. Companies like Meta banked on this idea, envisioning a world where work, socializing, and entertainment would all take place inside immersive virtual environments.

There is a market for this. Some people enjoy the novelty of digital escapism, and certain industries—gaming, training simulations, and niche social experiences—thrive on it. But as time goes on, it’s becoming increasingly clear that these virtual worlds are not the next dominant interface. Instead, the opposite is happening: as the real world grows more intense, chaotic, and overwhelming, people are shifting toward technology that helps them navigate reality, not replace it.

It’s not just that VR and AR require cumbersome hardware or feel unnatural to the average user. The bigger issue is that fiction is struggling to compete with reality. The modern world is already saturated with spectacle, controversy, and unpredictability. The idea that people would escape into digital worlds for excitement seems redundant when the actual news cycle plays out like a dystopian sci-fi novel.

Politics, in particular, has become inescapable. As technology accelerates global change, and as globalization reshapes societies, the stakes feel higher than ever. Headlines that once seemed unthinkable—Elon Musk’s children running around the Oval Office during a policy discussion, government figures engaging in viral Twitter debates, entire economies shifting overnight due to AI-driven automation—are now just another Tuesday. What was once shocking has become routine.

This creates a paradox: the internet has given everyone a voice, yet individual voices are drowned out. The sheer volume of political discourse, global events, and algorithmically boosted controversies makes it impossible for the average person to carve out meaningful digital space. Social media, once seen as an equalizer, is now a battleground dominated by pre-existing institutions, legacy influencers, and algorithmic control.

But the problem isn’t just noise. The real issue is that future regulatory shifts could dismantle the very platforms that allow for independent speech and digital autonomy. The European Union is already working toward regulations that could force social media platforms to comply with its ideological framework, and this has direct implications for the United States. The reality is that, depending on where things go with the Trump administration, free speech in the U.S. could end up controlled by European regulators. If a future administration in 2028 aligns with these efforts, platforms like X—already at odds with European regulatory bodies—could be dismantled, or at the very least, forced into strict compliance.

This looming uncertainty is yet another reason people are losing faith in building a digital presence. Why invest years into an online platform when it could be erased overnight by shifting political tides? Social media, once an open frontier, is now a fragile and temporary landscape dictated by external forces.