Virtualization and Digital Online Culture

Abstract

Contemporary citizens live in complicated times where fundamental understandings of reality are being expanded and challenged. A growing number of people no longer reside in just one physical reality but live, play, and work in multiple realities: real life reality, simulated reality, augmented reality, virtual reality, and hyperreality. As each crosses over from specialized functions (i.e., military training and scientific research) into everyday use, it impacts modern ontological states. Multiple realities are so pervasive that we see them across different contexts, such as at our local mall in the form of advertisements, on our smartphones in the form of applications, and at home in our appliances.