The Inevitable Adoption of Google Glass

Picture by Antonio Zugaldia

Technology is always moving forward. It is the constant improvements being made on existing products with the intent of making our lives easier.

Enter Google Glass, the latest venture by Google into augmented reality. Having written numerous report abstracts on AR before, I already knew this was the type of technology that was just waiting to be adopted by the  public.

Being a tech enthusiast myself, I am really looking forward to AR becoming mainstream. However, the launch of Google Glass has raised a lot of controversy. Let me address some of the criticisms below:

1) Google Glass makes you look douchey - The most common criticism of Glass is that walking around with them strapped to your face makes you look like a douchebag. I don't even see why this is an issue. Allow me to refresh people's memories by bringing their attention to another product that many were certain made you look like an idiot - the mobile phone. Yep, when cellphones were first introduced, there was a huge chunk who believed walking in public while talking to someone on this small contraption was just too absurd to even consider. We are now in 2013, and if you still have the same opinion of cellphones, the general consensus would be that you need to retire to an Amish community.

2) Google Glass is intrusive - Protests of this sort claim that since Google Glass can record everything, it might record them as well, and because these people are oh so important, their personal habits might become known and used against them. I would just like to say that a lot of this protesting is done on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. You know what else is intrusive? This little thing called the internet. If you don't want your personal information out there, you might just want to stay offline permanently. However, doing so will make you irrelevant very fast.

3) Google Glass distances people - "Why do people need to record everything anyway? Glass does nothing but further dissociation among people!" What people do with their lives is none of your business. If you personally do not want to Instagram everything you see, then good for you. But if someone else does want to do the same, then let them. Ever heard of the saying "Live and let live"? Yeah, that. People would use Glass, as they do with their cellphones, to associate with people they want to associate with. If that person is not you, then that's your problem. Personally, I have been saved numerous times from awkward interactions with people I dislike because I had my cellphone to keep me company, acting as a sign for people to leave me alone.

It irritates me to no end when people oppose emerging technologies. I expected this sort of thinking from people at the turn of the century, but in today's world, this mindset is completely unacceptable, and completely lacks logical backing. Even if Google Glass does not take off, augmented reality will one day become the norm, and it will evolve from mere glasses to contact lenses. This is not a matter of if, but when.