Vulnerable Groups, Virtual Cities, and Social Isolation
Abstract
The number of people suffering from perpetual loneliness continues to increase, diminishing their wellbeing. While this condition affects people's mental life, research shows that it also significantly impacts physical health. Those enduring such hardships often have superficial encounters, but they lack meaningful social engagement with others. Addressing this problem requires highly specialized and interdisciplinary mitigatory efforts. The increasing economic feasibility of virtual reality equipment can help remedy some of these situations, especially when users can connect in supportive digital environs, "virtual cities." In turn, this exploratory paper examines how creating specific kinds of virtual cities could facilitate meaningful social engagements, which can improve numerous people's living conditions. The author fleshes out this view, showing that these technologies' progressive nature can be shaped to secure the needed measures to improve the quality of some people's lives.
Recommended Citation
Epting, S. R. (2021). Vulnerable Groups, Virtual Cities, and Social Isolation. Technology in Society, 67 Elsevier.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101711
Department(s)
Arts, Languages, and Philosophy
Keywords and Phrases
Cities; Public health; Social isolation; Virtual cities; Virtual reality
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0160-791X
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2021 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Nov 2021
