Dear Stacie Weatbrook,

During my time here, I have learned a lot about English that I did not know before. Starting my

journey into English 1010 I thought that the labs were a waste of time, but soon learned that was

not true. The labs are an essential part of this class that if was taken away would affect the

learning process greatly. Throughout my journey here I learned about the threshold concepts:

Rhetoric, Action, Choices, Context, Literate Practices & Processes, and Writing is a resource.

All the assignments that we did here in the class made up the threshold concept.

One of our major assignments was the Rhetorical Analysis where we learned about the rhetoric

process. The rhetorical analysis was a major insight into what this class was about. During the

rhetorical analysis we learned about the choices that writers make including the language,

structure, and content. This was very important for us to dissect the paper and truly understand

the meaning of it. For one of my labs I chose to read the Declaration of Independence and dissect

it to understand the words used and the meaning behind it. This was great practice for the major

assignment, where I wrote a paper on The Floor Statement by Senator John McCain. I think

one of the things that helped me understand the text the most was reading it, marking the page

up, and asking questions.

Another of our major assignments was the annotated bibliography where we learned how to

research but most importantly, we utilized the context threshold. I learned that context is made

up of different viewpoints and its our perception of things. For my annotated bibliography I

chose to write about the effects of virtual reality on our social interactions. This was an

interesting assignment for me because I was very intrigued with the idea of virtual reality. The
annotated bibliography included a lot of things like rhetoric, context, choices, and literate

practices and processes. Researching about the topic was a fun part for me because I got to see

others views on virtual reality which ultimately shaped my essay. The literate practices of using

MLA format was not new to me but I needed to brush up on it by watching videos on YouTube.

Our final major assignment that tied in with the annotated bibliography was the Viewpoint

Synthesis. This was my favorite assignment because I was able to explain the extensive research

that I did on virtual reality. When writing my essay, I had to pay attention to the threshold

concept choices. The choices concept involves the language, structure, and content of the essay.

One of the major things that helped me with this essay was the final lab that we did and the

discussions we had for this assignment. I was able to take the feedback and utilize what I wanted

to better structure and shape my essay.

This course has been filled with so much information that I never knew about before. Coming

into this course I wasnt too sure what type of writer I was, what I was lacking, and the process

you go through to write a good paper. I can successfully say that I have learned these things

throughout my time here in English 1010. I would also like to say thank you, to you and all the

teachers that helped me become a better writer throughout this semester. I will continue the

writing process throughout my college career, and into my professional career.

Sincerely,

Noble Finsand
Noble Finsand
English 1010
10 December 2017
The Hacker

It was a Wednesday morning, just like any other morning. The bell rang and we sat down

to take role. I always looked forward to being in autos class. The smell of oil and gas and the

grease on my hands made me feel like a man and not just a boy. I remember it just like it was

yesterday. The man, his face, his eyes, searching as if he was looking for his next prey. Im

looking for Noble Finsand, the man said to everyone. All eyes turned to me, making me the

center of attention. He was now coming for me, I was the prey. But what did I do? Are you

Noble? he said to me. I had a hard time speaking, it felt like my tongue was suddenly gone.

Yes, I am, I said. Is everything okay? I need you to come with me right now he said.

Swallowing hard, I went with him. One minute, two minutes, four minutes, eight minutes. It felt

like eternity getting to wherever he was taking me. The whole way there my mind was racing

thinking about what was wrong. What did I do? For gods sake, weve only been back to school

for a week! Theres no way I could have done something. We reached a room and he opened the

door.

Sitting there was a group of people that I recognized for the most part. My principle, a

man Ive seen before, another man who Ive never seen, and a police officer. Uh oh. This is

serious! Noble, please take a seat my principle said. The police officer approached me. Im

going to cut straight to the chase here Noble. This is very serious. Did you, or did you not, hack

into Jordan school district? My heart began to race, and I could feel the air around me getting

hotter as if I was sitting next to an invisible fire. Let me ask you again Noble, did you hack into
Jordan school district last semester? Ah ha, I knew I didnt do anything. Well, anything since

Ive been back. How did they find out! That was 3 months ago! Do I tell them the truth? Do I

lie? How much trouble am I going to get into? Yes, yes I did! I said. My voice trembling not

only with fear but with anxiety of not knowing what will happen next. I noticed the face of the

stranger turning red with rage. Ah, this man must be the IT guy, and I must have gotten him in

trouble. He approached me with anger in his voice. Tell me how you did it! Tell me every little

detail! he said. I explained to him how I did it. Why I did it. They left the room.

I was all alone sitting there, just me and my thoughts. Am I going to jail? I thought to

myself. Why did I do this! They are going to expel me for sure! Wait until my parents find out.

How did they find out? They came back in. You see Noble, we are in a sticky situation, the

officer said. This is the first time we have had to deal with a situation like this here, and we

arent really sure what to do. He paused for a moment, then continued It would be different if

we could see the logs of everything you accessed, but we cant. Because of this, we are going to

have to run an investigation. During this investigation, you will be suspended for a week. You

will not be able to come on campus during this time. Do you have any questions? Am I going

to jail? I said. That was all that was running through my mind now. We arent sure what will

happen; However, if you tell us now everything that you did and it matches up with what we

find, it will look better for you. I was sick to my stomach with fear, and anxiety. I didnt

change any grades I promise! I just wanted to prove that I could do it, I said. I targeted random

computers and would shut them down remotely. Or, if my friends were working on something, I

would send a pop up on their computers that would shut them down. But thats all I did! I

swear! Thank you for telling us that. Like I said, if this matches up with what we find, things
will look better for you the officer said, But right now, I will need to escort you down to your

classes to get your things, after that I will need you to leave the building.

It was the longest week of my life. I was worrying every second, wondering what was

going to happen to me. I was finally able to go back to school. Sitting in class, the blaring sound

of an intercom came on above. Noble Finsand, please report to the principals office

immediately. Gulp. I slowly made my way down to her office. As I reached her door, I took a

deep breath and walked in. Welcome back Noble she said to me. Thank you, I said, anxious

to hear what she had to say. So, you like computers, dont you Noble? she said with a slight

grin on her face. You could say that I said, almost comedically. Well Noble, a lady from

hacking academy heard what happened and insisted she wanted to have you in her program.

She did? I said shocked at what I was hearing. She did indeed. She said that its better for

people like you to understand the ethics of hacking. So, for your punishment, you will go for the

first half of your day to this school and learn about hacking. If you choose not to, there will be

another punishment. But I dont think you will like it as much. For the rest of the year I

attended this school. Thinking back now, I realize how much worse it could have been. Hacking

is no joke, and its very important to understand the consequences. If you do hack, be a white hat

hacker who does it for good, and not a black hat who does it for the wrong reasons.
Noble Finsand
English 1010
10 October 2017
Floor Statement by Senator John McCain

In the article on the CIA interrogation methods, delivered by John McCain on

December 9, 2014. He stands before the U.S. Senate to deliver a statement on the CIA

interrogation methods report. The issue arises from the delayed report release on the enhanced

interrogation methods. John McCain delivers the speech not only to the senate intelligence

committee, but to the American people too.

In the text, John McCain goes into detail of how the use of enhanced interrogation techniques is

doing us more harm than good. He states that the American people have a right to the truth, and

that the practices include the use of a variety of torture techniques, like waterboarding, which is

just one of the many. McCain expresses that the techniques produces little to no results when

tracking down terrorists. He explains from personal experience from his time as a prisoner of

war, that torture yields bad intelligence. McCain offers amendments that will make enhanced

interrogation techniques punishable as war crimes.

In the floor statement given by Senator John McCain. He does a good job convincing the senate

intelligence committee and the American people, that the enhanced interrogation techniques are

doing more harm than good. McCain reaches his audience effectively using strong logos

throughout this text, by stating that the American people have a right to know what has been

done, and how it has affected them.

Senator John McCain effectively uses Logos throughout this passage to inform the American

people what is going on, and the results being yielded from the interrogation techniques. He does
a great job informing us that it is our responsibility to know what is going on by saying, I

believe the American people have a right indeed, a responsibility to know what was done in

their name; how these practices did or did not serve our interests; and how they comported with

our most important values. This gets the audience thinking and ready for when John McCain

says, What were the policies? What was their purpose? Did they achieve it? Did they make us

safer? Less Safe? Or did they make no difference? What did they gain us? What did they cost

us? (McCain). John McCain uses this strategy to give the audience a sense of purpose, to make

them feel important. By giving the American people a chance to ask questions, he successfully

captures them with his Logos.

McCain is not only a Senator, but he was also a prisoner of war during Vietnam, and uses this to

successfully build credibility in his speech. One part of the passage he says, I know from

personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence. I

know that victims of torture will off intentionally misleading information if they think their

captor will believe it. By using this strategy, the American people look at him as a credible

source and as once a victim. He gives the American people someone to look to by using himself.

The use of I throughout the passage is a way he builds credibility by saying, I understand the

reasons that governed the decision to resort to these interrogation methods, and I respect their

dedication and appreciate their dilemma. But I dispute wholeheartedly that it was right for them

to use these methods (McCain). The repetitive use of I is a form of speech that successfully

gets a point across, and the American people can feel it. We can see some similarities to Martin

Luthor King Jrs speech when he repeatedly says, I have a Dream.

Not only does Senator John McCain effectively uses Logos and Ethos in his speech, but he also

ties in Pathos along with it. The way that he structures this though is different. The beginning
part of his speech he mixes Logos and Ethos, but towards the end he finishes it off by drawing on

our emotions. Most of the pathos you will find in the end of his speech, and he does this on

purpose. John McCain says, Will the reports release cause outrage that leads to violence in

some parts of the Muslim world? Yes, I suppose thats possible, perhaps likely. Sadly, violence

needs little incentive in some quarters of the world today. By saying this, he is letting us know

that violence is becoming a custom in some quarters of the world, and that releasing the report

we have delayed for so long wouldnt have made a difference. He also says, What might come

as a surprise, not just to our enemies, but to many Americans, is how little these practices did to

aid our efforts to bring 9/11 culprits to justice and to find and prevent terrorist attacks today and

tomorrow (McCain). He uses words like outrage, violence, and terrorists, while combining it

with a call to 9/11. By doing this, its an attempt to draw on our emotions by bringing us back to

that day. He uses it to convince us that the interrogation techniques did not yield results,

satisfying his claim that enhanced interrogation techniques are not working.

John McCain does a great job at convincing the American people that the enhanced interrogation

techniques are doing little to no good. He effectively does this throughout his speech by the

many Ethos and Logos, and driving home at the end with Pathos that draw on the American

peoples emotions.
 Works Cited

McCain, John. Floor Statement on Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Interrogation

Methods. Dec 09 2014 https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm.press-releases

Noble Finsand
English 1010
10 December 2017

Is virtual reality destroying our social interactions rather than helping us?
Virtual reality is becoming increasingly popular, and has completely taken off just from the past
couple of years. Big names like Mark Zuckerberg who is the creator of Facebook, believe that
virtual reality will help connect us and improve our social interactions with people. But is virtual
reality really helping us connect with each other, helping our social interactions with people?
Others believe that virtual reality is not helping us, but rather destroying our interactions with
others. This is an important question to ask because virtual reality is the future, and it is not
going anywhere. By asking this question now, we can better prepare for it.
How Will Virtual Reality Change Our Lives? BBC News, BBC, 18 May 2016,
www.bbc.com/news/technology-36279855.
In the article How will virtual reality change our lives? written on May 18, 2016. It talked
about how virtual reality is used throughout different situations. One example given was the use
of virtual reality in the military. It talked about how veterans with post-traumatic stress can relive
what happened to them. After reliving the situation, they can keep reliving it until they can learn
to cope with it. It then went on to talk about people with autism and how it can help them with
their social lives and even getting better at job interviews. It talked about how they can use
virtual reality to practice interviews in different situations - gender, age, different ethnicity, and
level of proactiveness.
I really liked this article and thought that it did a great job explaining the good things about
virtual reality, and how it is helping our social interactions. I liked how it explained how virtual
reality is helping people in real life situations. I thought that the post-traumatic stress issue was a
great way to utilize virtual reality. It also included many credible sources from scientists,
psychologists, professors, and journalists. I will use the information I got out of this article for
my research paper.
How Virtual Reality Facilitates Social Connection. Facebook IQ, Facebook, 9 Jan. 2017,
www.facebook.com/iq/articles/how-virtual-reality-facilitates-social-connection.
In this article posted by Facebook, it talks about how Facebook IQ conducted a study through
Neurons Inc where they gathered 60 people of different ages to be a part of a virtual reality
study. Facebook IQ used their Oculus Rift headset to see the effects of social interactions
between two people when face to face vs through virtual reality. Facebook stated in the article
that, All participants wore EEG headsets to analyze their brain signals and measure their level
of comfort and engagement (How virtual Reality). In the article, Facebook IQ concluded that
introverts did very well through virtual reality than face to face interactions. This was the
opposite for extroverts. Facebook said that many of the participants felt that the conversations
were pleasant and lasted shorter than it really did. Facebook said that, while the virtual reality
conversations lasted 20 minutes, on average people guessed they had taken 13.
This was a great article to read by Facebook, as they are one of the top supporters of virtual
reality. Facebook is a huge company that almost everyone knows about. This article seems very
credible due to Facebook conducting a study. This article also does a great job at providing many
logos throughout it by giving us different statistics found by the study. Overall, I am convinced
that virtual reality is helping us improve our social interactions.
Kim, Monica. The Good and the Bad of Escaping to Virtual Reality. The Atlantic, The
Atlantic Monthly Group, 18 Feb. 2015,
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/the-good-and-the-bad-of-escaping-to-
virtual-reality/385134/.
In this article written by Monica Kim on Feb 18, 2015. It talked about how virtual reality will
completely immerse us. Ray Kurzweil a futurist said, By the 2030s, virtual reality will be totally
realistic and compelling, and we will spend most of our time in virtual environments ... We will
all become virtual humans (Kim). In the article, it talked about how living a life online is
unhealthy and potentially dangerous. In the article, it mentioned an estimated 500,000 Japanese
citizens refuse to leave their homes and appear addicted to the internet. It then went on to talk
about a 13-year-old who committed suicide after playing WOW (World of Warcraft) for 36
hours. In the article they talk about how the examples are extreme examples, but share a common
root with how it effects our fabric of living.
I think this article did a great job at explaining the bad about virtual reality. It listed many
negative things about virtual reality including the consequences for some. I do think that this
article needs a few more credible sources. Although it provided many names, I wasnt too sure
how credible those authors are. I will continue to do my research and find out if they are or not.
Koltko-Rivera, Mark E. The Potential Societal Impact of Virtual Reality. Haverford
College, Haverford College, ww3.haverford.edu/psychology/ddavis/psych214/koltko-
rivera_2005_VR-rev.pdf.
In this article written by Mark Koltko-Rivera, it talked about all the negative issues and some
positive issues related to virtual reality. Mark talked about the effects of virtual reality on home
and family life. He explained the consequences related to virtual reality and wanting to try out
different home experiences. Mark talks about the aggressive impulses someone gets when
playing a violent game in VR. He explains that someone who plays a violent game in VR
experiences greater violent thoughts than if someone was to watch a violent movie, or play a
video game not in virtual reality. Mark then talks about the sexual impulses virtual reality brings
on and the negative effects this has on someone and their social interactions. He talks about
ethical issues related to this. Mark says in the article that, the availability of VR sexuality might
lead to deterioration of sexual relationships in the real world (Koltko). He backs this up by
providing additional information from a study that was conducted.
Overall, I felt like this article had a tremendous amount of information. The use of all the logos
and ethos really helped build the credibility in this article. I like how Mark provided us with
many studies that were done and effectively citing his sources.
Marr, Bernard. Facebook, Virtual Reality (VR) And The Future Of Social
Networks. Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Mar. 2016,
www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/03/17/facebook-virtual-reality-vr-and-the-
future-of-social-networks/2/#.
In this article it talks about how virtual reality is helping our social interactions for the better. It
talks about Mark Zuckerberg and how he purchased the oculus which is the leading VR headset
on the market. It mentions that virtually is helping us connect with people all around the world.
In the article it talks about how virtual reality right now has been primarily used for gaming but
is now transitioning into a way to socially interact with people all around the world. It mentions
how we will be able to meet with family, friends, or even colleagues in any virtual environment
that we want.
I thought this article was very fascinating to read. It talked about Mark Zuckerberg who is the
founder of Facebook which I thought was a very great use of ethos. While reading this article, I
noticed that there was not a lot of direct quoting from other sources. I dont know if this is bad or
not because it did not have a lot of sources. I would like to do more research on Facebook and
their efforts on social interactions, to see how far they have come. Overall, I thought this article
was a good source of information.
Saunders, Cariann. The Oculus Rift and the Human Psyche: The Societal Effects of
Virtual Reality and Its Accompanying Immediacy. The Classic Journal,
theclassicjournal.uga.edu/index.php/2016/11/04/the-oculus-rift-and-the-human-
psyche-the-societal-effects-of-virtual-reality-and-its-accompanying-immediacy/.
In this article written by Cariann Saunders, it talks about how virtual reality has helped patients
with medical issues such as; treating strokes, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even autism. It
says that patients with post-traumatic stress disorder can confront their stressors face to face in
virtual reality, and from there, they are able to cope with them. Cariann talks about how virtual
reality can be beneficially when it comes to medical treatment, but It can be terrible for our
social interactions. She introduces a doctor named Elias Aboujaoude who states that once virtual
reality becomes main stream, it will drastically change a persons social and emotional needs
over timeWe may stop needing or craving real social interactions because they may become
foreign to us (Saunders). It then talks about how we will move from human to human
interaction, to human to computer.
I thought this article was very interesting and I liked that it gave a lot of information about virtual
reality and the effects it has on our social interactions. It provided a lot of ethos in the article to
build credibility, as well as pathos. But I did not find many logos. I liked that the article listed
the work cited at the end, that way I could further investigate and see where they got their
information from.
Wen Tiffanie. Can Virtual Reality Make You a Better Person, BBC Future. Virtual
Human Interaction Lab, Stanford University, 5 June 2013,
vhil.stanford.edu/mm/2014/bbc-VR-better-person.pdf.
In this article Can Virtual Reality Make You a Better Person, written by Tiffanie Wen. She
talked about how she visited a special virtual reality lab in California where they had her try
different tests. She talked about how she put the virtual reality headset on and was standing on a
plank over a pit. Tiffanie mentioned in the article that most people would dive to the edge
because It is so realistic. She explained that studies show that virtual reality can have medical
and psychological effects. As stated in the article, It has been shown, for example, to effectively
improve physical rehabilitation after a stroke or injury, reduce phantom limb pain, treat anxiety
and specific phobias, and improve social cognition training for individuals with autism (Wen).
Later, she mentioned how virtual reality can make people a better person after simulating being a
superhero.
I enjoyed reading this article and felt that it provided plenty of logos throughout it. Tiffanie used
a lot of big names like Stanford to build credibility in her article. She also used pathos to build
emotion in her audience. Overall, I felt like this article did a great job at providing all the
information needed, and was a great resource.
Nyaz Didehbani, Tandra Allen, Michelle Kandalaft, Daniel Krawczyk, Sandra Chapman,
Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training for children with high functioning autism,
In Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 62, 2016, Pages 703-711, ISSN 0747-
5632, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.033.
In this article written by Nyaz Didehbani, it talks about how virtual reality is helping children
with high functioning autism. Nyaz Didehbani explains that children between the age of 7-16
who has high functioning autism, were selected to be a part of a study to see if virtual reality can
help improve their social interactions. Nyaz Didehbani explained that 30 children with ASD
completed 10 1-hour sessions across a 5-week span. Overall, the study done was a success. Nyaz
Didehbani said that, VR appears to offer a promising, innovative, and motivating platform to
safely practice and rehearse social skills for children with ASD. (Science Direct 2016, Online).
After saying this, Nyaz goes into detail about the study that was done citing many different
sources.
I thought this was a great find for this research project. Nyaz Didehbani did a great job at
explaining what the study was, while providing great sources at the same time. Nyaz Didehbani
included many ethos and logos throughout this article, which made me feel confident in the study
that was done. All the sources that were given by Nyaz were good and accurate sources. I am
very pleased with this article as it shows that virtual reality is helping improve social interactions
between people.
Throughout my research on the effects of virtual reality I noticed a strong trend of pros vs cons.
It seems like many people are for virtual reality and believe that it will help improve our social
interactions. I came into this research assignment thinking that virtual reality would destroy our
social interactions instead of helping us. I learned that virtual reality is helping many people
overcome obstacles in their lives that would be hard to do without virtual reality. Towards the
end of my research I started to really see that virtual reality it a good thing rather than bad.
Noble Finsand
English 1010
1 December 2017

Does virtual reality help our social interactions or destroy it?

Social reality has been around for a while now. Within the past couple of years though it

has taken off by storm, with big companies like Facebook and Samsung pushing to get it in the

hands of the average person. Virtual reality is a way we can escape into another world and

interact with people in this world, play games, or even watch movies. Soon enough we will be

able to have a full life in virtual reality and do almost anything we can do in real life. The main

goal of virtual reality is to connect people all around the world and make it so it feels like we are

there in real life. The issue I wanted to research about is whether virtual reality is helping our

social interactions or is it silently killing it. The reason I chose this is that I have been really

interested in virtual reality and the effects it has on our interactions with others over a period.

During my research, I found different viewpoints relating to this topic. Throughout much

of my research, I found good evidence saying that virtual reality is helping improve our social

interactions for the better. At the same time, other research suggests that virtual reality is not

helping our social interactions but destroying our interactions with others, making it much harder

to connect with people. While these two views are expressed very easily as either being positive

or negative, another view that research has been conducted on is that virtual reality is solely

helping autistic children, and other patients with medical issues overcome impairments but can

be detrimental to our social interactions.

 Virtual reality is a way we can escape our everyday lives and live in a world full of

possibility. With virtual reality, we can connect with people all around the world in a way that

feels genuinely real. Mark Zuckerbergs (founder of Facebook) mission is to connect people all

around the world with virtual reality. In a test done by Facebook IQ, it showed that when

participants who were put in a social interaction with the only difference being that one test

group was in virtual reality, the results were significant. Facebook IQ stated, When we

interviewed people individually after their virtual conversations, an average of 93% said that

they liked their virtual conversation partner (How Virtual Reality). Not only that, 83% of

introverts showed that it was easier to talk to and hold a conversation with someone in virtual

reality (How Virtual Reality Facilitates Social Connection). As you can see, the tests that were

concluded showed that virtual reality improved the social interactions among these people. As I

did more research on this topic, others did not feel the same way.

Virtual reality doesnt always have to mean putting on a headset and being immersed into

this sort of beautiful world. Virtual reality can mean being sucked into a massive online player

game like World of Warcraft and experiencing a whole new reality. A psychiatrist by the name

of Dr. Takahiro explained that there are an estimated 500,000 citizens who refuse to leave their

homes and appear addicted to the internet. This was the case for a 13-year-old who committed

suicide after playing WOW for 36 hours (Kim). From an article found online, the 13-year-old

who committed suicide left a note that said, he wanted to join the heroes of the game he

worshipped (Parents Sue Game). Virtual reality can also have a negative impact on your home

life and sexual encounters. Married individuals are using virtual reality to escape their everyday

life, even their physical interactions with each other. This is destroying many relationships

because they enjoy virtual reality interactions more than the interactions they have with each
other. Mark Rivera, a psychologist with a Ph.D. from Haverford, explained that "the availability

of VR sexually might lead to deterioration of sexual relationships in the real world (Rivera). This

can lead to infidelity by a spouse having a sexual partner in virtual reality. Virtual reality can

change the way we think over time, and some say that we might never need human interaction. A

doctor of the name Elias Aboujaude says, "once virtual reality hits the mainstream, we may stop

needing or craving real social interactions because it may become foreign to us (Harding).

This shows us how virtual reality can be detrimental to our social interactions by destroying our

relationships, causing us to be addicted, and in some severe cases, leading to depression and

suicide.

Others would argue that virtual reality is beneficial only when it comes to treating

medical issues. But at the same time, it can be terrible for our social interactions. Virtual reality

has been used in the military for a while now. Research has been conducted and shows that

virtual reality can help veterans with post-traumatic stress relive what happened to them so that

they can eventually learn to cope with the traumatic event. Virtual reality can even have medical

and psychological effects. In an article written and found on Stanford website, it stated that It

has been shown, for example, to effectively improve physical rehabilitation after a stroke or

injury, reduce phantom limb pain, treat anxiety and specific phobias, and improve social

cognition training for individuals with autism (Wen).

Technology is advancing from year to year and millions of us are already sucked into our

phones, social media, and are forgetting to enjoy the people around us. Coming from someone

who has recently deactivated all his social media, I came across this research assignment biased.

I believed that virtual reality was going to destroy our social interactions instead of improving it.

Throughout my research, I found evidence explaining how virtual reality can be bad for our
social interactions, but the good out ways the bad. Toward the end of my research is when I

really started to change my mind about virtual reality. I can see how virtual reality could be

detrimental, but after all of this, I strongly believe that virtual reality is going to help our social

interactions.
 Works Cited

How Virtual Reality Facilitates Social Connection. Facebook IQ, Facebook, 9 Jan. 2017,

www.facebook.com/iq/articles/how-virtual-reality-facilitates-social-connection.

How Will Virtual Reality Change Our Lives? BBC News, BBC, 18 May 2016,

www.bbc.com/news/technology-36279855.

Kim, Monica. The Good and the Bad of Escaping to Virtual Reality. The Atlantic, The

Atlantic Monthly Group, 18 Feb. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/the-

good-and-the-bad-of-escaping-to-virtual-reality/385134/.

Koltko-Rivera, Mark E. The Potential Societal Impact of Virtual Reality. Haverford College,

Haverford College, ww3.haverford.edu/psychology/ddavis/psych214/koltko-

rivera_2005_VR-rev.pdf.

Parents Sue Game Distributor over Son's Suicide. China Daily, 12 May 2006, 11:38,

www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-05/12/content_588456.htm.

Saunders, Cariann. The Oculus Rift and the Human Psyche: The Societal Effects of Virtual

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