VIRTUAL REALITY AS A PHENOMENON AND ITS IMPAST ON THE BEING OF MAN
YULYA OGORODNNCHUK · HUMANITIES STUDIES · 2024
The modern development of science and new technologies has led to the emergence and spread of new phenomena such as digitalization and virtual reality. Virtualization, as a process of saturating the information and communication space of a digitized society and the objective world of humans with modern technological innovations, virtual images, and simulacra, is perceived ambiguously. Therefore, the study of human existence in the sociocultural space of a digital society, with its new challenges and problems, becomes relevant. The purpose of the article is a sociophilosophical analysis of the phenomenon of virtual reality and its impact on human existence and the processes of social alienation. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of worldview and methodological pluralism, comprehensive study of the multifaceted phenomenon of virtualization; principles of historicism, complexity, objectivity, specificity, systematization, and determinism. General scientific, interdisciplinary, and specific scientific methods are also used. Conclusions and prospects for further research. The article reveals the essence of virtualization and the phenomenon of virtual reality. It is substantiated that in the era of digitalization and global virtual development of the world, the spread of the latest information and communication technologies fundamentally transforms individual and social existence, the structure of modern society, and introduces new forms of social connections, practices, and lifestyles. It is proven that for an increasing number of people, virtual space and virtual reality become more important and significant than physical (real) space and physical reality. The problem of the functioning of the segment of virtual reality related to the sphere of social interaction within so-called virtual communities is described. It is noted that the intensive virtualization of modern society has led to the emergence of fundamentally new methods of human communication, knowledge acquisition, influence on public consciousness, and the search for one's own identity in virtual space.