Hey, Apple Vision Pro user: Don’t be a Glasshole

Apple’s first spatial computer, the Vision Pro, hit the market this month. It’s a device that has the potential to change the way we communicate, play, and work. That is, unless the people strapping the $3,500 computer to their faces don’t become pariahs in the eyes of the public first. In the brief time since the Vision Pro’s launch, social media, especially TikTok, has been full of videos of people using their Vision Pros in . . . how can I say this? . . . Glasshole-ish ways.

A Glasshole is a derogatory portmanteau that originated more than a decade ago and was used to describe people who wore Google Glass (the augmented reality glasses Google used to make) in public—even during face-to-face conversations. Glassholes wore the AR specs while walking down the street, in communal spaces like coffee shops and bars, and even in meetings. This quickly creeped the public out. You could never be sure if a Google Glass user was fully engaged with their surroundings, including the person they were talking to, or with the tiny display in their glasses.

Sadly, though Apple’s Vision Pro seems like it could bring spatial computing into the mainstream, it is also introducing the Glasshole 2.0. Just browsing TikTok for a little while last night, I saw videos of Apple Vision Pro users that made me cringe. But nothing annoyed me as much as when I saw a video of a Vision Pro user who didn’t have the common decency to remove the monster chonk of tech from their noggin while ordering a coffee from a barista, as if the human being taking their order didn’t deserve their undivided attention.

I also saw videos of people using their Vision Pro on packed subway trains, while walking down crowded streets, and even while driving cars.

Despite the “passthrough” ability of the Vision Pro (enabling elements of the real world to be visible along with the virtual interface) these Vision Pro users seem to be completely ignorant of their surroundings, or just don’t seem to care that others exist in the mixed-reality world around them. In one video, showing someone using the Vision Pro on a subway train, the wearer gesticulated wildly with his hands and constantly swung his head side-to-side. A few times, the motions of his head almost led him to conk the passenger next to him in the face with the Vision Pro.

Several videos showed Vision Pro wearers using them while walking down the street. They would frequently stop—completely oblivious to the pedestrians walking behind them—and gesticulate with their hands, moving virtual windows only they could see. More worryingly, I’ve seen several videos where Vision Pro users do this while crossing a street, leaving them at increased risk of being hit by a car that they cannot see, not least because their peripheral vision is hindered while wearing the device.

And speaking of cars, I’ve seen at least two videos that show drivers using the Vision Pro while operating the vehicles. This is monumentally stupid and poses not just a lethal risk to them, but to their passengers, the occupants of other cars, and pedestrians. One video of a Tesla Cybertruck driver wearing a Vision Pro while behind the wheel sparked a warning from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on X. “Reminder—ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times,” Buttigieg wrote.

Whether these scenarios are staged for attention and likes, or whether it’s how these people actually use the Vision Pro doesn’t matter. If this kind of Glasshole behavior gets out of hand, it’ll be bad news for Apple. There’s no way that the iPod would ever have become the era-defining device it did if it annoyed the hell out of bystanders or potentially put their lives at risk.

Of course, to Apple’s credit, the company explicitly warns people not to use the Vision Pro in ways that could endanger the wearer or bystanders. “Never use the device while operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in any other situations requiring attention to safety,” an Apple safety document warns. Yet clearly not every Vision Pro user is adhering to this advice.

But let’s say, miraculously, that no Vision Pro user wearing the device while driving or navigating a crowd injures themselves or anyone else. If these users merely continue to ignore social norms—or just basic common courtesy—they’ll be considered Glassholes. That would not just be a problem for Apple, but spatial computing adoption as a whole.

So, Apple Vision Pro users, by all means, enjoy your incredible new gadget. Just don’t lose your mind—or common decency—while doing it. You may look a little funny if you use your Vision Pro at Starbucks, but there’s no harm done provided you take it off while ordering your cappuccino and give the barista the courtesy they deserve.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91023895/hey-apple-vision-pro-user-dont-be-a-glasshole?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss