Demystifying Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality

Reality-shifting schemes long ago escaped the sole purview of science fiction to become something that real consumers can experience themselves.

Yet despite being in the public consciousness for decades, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are alien concepts to many older adults. These terms remain baffling even with recent high-profile launches of the mixed reality Meta Quest 3 from Facebook-parent Meta and Vision Pro from Apple.

You’ll also run across the phrase extended reality (XR), a catch-all moniker that applies to all the above terms.

To add to the confusion, science fiction fans may be familiar with “alternate” reality, the premise that universes with different timelines coexist with ours.

The notion has been around for centuries. Some think Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll’s children’s novel published in 1865, introduced the idea of an alternate dimension to popular culture. A 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone called “The Parallel” was likely the first time that viewers saw the concept on TV. So far, alternate reality remains in the sci-fi realm.

The technologies don’t have distinct boundaries

Virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality increasingly overlap. But the degree to which users can exploit the technologies to immerse themselves fully or partially in computer-generated or otherworldly environments — or pass back and forth — is what also sets them apart.

The typical way to experience virtual reality, and often augmented reality and mixed reality, is to wear a headset around your noggin. Some people will find them uncomfortable and isolating, and the devices often have a learning curve, turnoffs that may dissuade folks from a trial run.

You may also be able to don a pair of specialized smart glasses to engage with digitally created displays and virtual objects that show up while you’re out and about in the real world, and such glasses promise an increasingly richer path to AR in the future. Smart glasses may be less nerdy looking, and it’s fair to say, put less weight on the face and head, though many approaches are just now emerging.

Let’s further demystify these terms.

Virtual reality immerses you in another world

For much of its history, VR has been more about promise and less about delivering on that potential though improvements in recent years have been enormous. The hype was especially in overdrive during the mid-2010s after Facebook as a corporation, now Meta, spent $3 billion to buy VR startup Oculus.

The latest VR headsets have elements of AR and mixed reality, but VR is still about complete immersion — transporting you to a place, real or imagined, that’s nearly or completely impossible to visit in real life. The venue could be from the past or something in the future.