Augmented reality technology as a way to overcome cyber escapism

Kerouac Anastasiya Viktorovna Postgraduate student of the Department of Theory and History of Culture of ANO VO GITR 129336, Russia, Moscow, Chelyuskinskaya str., 4 film.kerouac@gmail.com

The concept of escapism as an escape from reality in the "otherworld" has been known to thinkers for a long time. As a rule, in everyday life escapism is considered something negative, a sign of laziness and irresponsibility. However, researchers say that the phenomenon has been with us throughout history. Romanticism, which emerged in the art of the end of the XIII century, was a reaction to the technical achievements of the industrial revolution and to the corresponding changes in everyday life. Representatives of Romanticism in their works turned to the whole natural, natural, as well as to the mysterious fictional world. Thus, their desire to escape from the new reality, in which soulless technology became the main driving force, was expressed. In 1916, the work of the English poet and academician Arthur Benson "Escape and other essays" was published, in which he came to the conclusion that the idea of escape is at the heart of all literary works ^[1]. He separated the concepts of escapist fantasy and utopia. The utopian world is perfect, there are no contradictions in it, there is nothing to run from. While for an escapist, the very idea of a fixed reality is unbearable. The escapist strives to change the conditions of his existence always with the hope of changes for the better. Professor J. R. R. Tolkien of Oxford University in his essay "On Fairy Tales" uses the term "escapism" in the context of resistance to reality ^[2]. According to his reflections, it is common for every person to imagine what exists beyond his limits of reality. Professor Yi-Fu Tuan confirms the positions of Tolkien and Benson, saying that a person in his mind continuously creates worlds and these are not always pictures of a beautiful peaceful existence ^[3]. In his fantasies, an escapist can literally plunge into hell. The desire to go beyond reality is common to all people and it is not always an escape into an ideal world.Modern researchers have not yet come to a consensus on the nature of escapism.

Psychologist R. Ya. Podol calls the phenomenon "moral nihilism" ^[4]. He cites as an example the story of Diogenes, who lived in a barrel to avoid contact with society. The philosopher E. O. Trufanova, considering the problem of escapist consciousness, notes that avoiding reality is an attempt to comprehend the unknown, to construct reality where a person lacks knowledge ^[5]. Culturologist E. N. Shapinskaya notes an increase in the number of escapists and associates this with the automation of modern human life ^[6]. Manifestations of the phenomenon are considered in different areas of human life — from traditional tourism to escape to the virtual world.

The current trend of escaping from reality with the help of digital technologies seems to be an urgent problem. Since the end of the XX century, the question of the influence of the electronic environment on human life and the emergence of new forms of culture in this regard has been raised. This is the subject of the works of J. Baudrillard, E. Toffler, M. Castels, J. Habermas. Nowadays it is impossible to abandon the use of the Internet, it has become a new socio-cultural space. During the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, humanity especially vividly felt the benefits of using the global network. Thanks to the Internet, people could continue to work while sitting at home, communicate with loved ones, have fun and be creative themselves. The specifics of the virtual environment pose a certain danger. Its goal is to attract and retain the user as long as possible. The hyperspace of the Internet, filled with simulacra and references, leads a person from site to site, lures him with unique, fascinating or vivid content. Even if the user needs to use the Internet for some specific purposes, there is a great temptation to succumb to the tricks of marketers and disappear into the "otherworld" of the Internet for many hours. In particular, the identity of the subject is lost in the network, the boundary between the real and the virtual is blurred for the user. This is facilitated not only by the fantasy worlds of online games and entertaining Internet shows. The confusion between the real and the virtual is also created by the anonymity of the user, the absence of the need to bear social responsibility for words and actions, the lack of an immediate reaction of the environment to actions. In this case, the virtual environment may become preferable for spending time, it may be more difficult for a person to contact the real world ^[7]. Accessibility, the spread of broadband Internet and the high speed of development of companies producing digital content, makes cyber escapism more and more attractive. The question arises – if it is impossible to abandon the use of the Internet, is it possible to find an alternative way of cyber escapism in the modern digital era?

Recently, along with innovations in the field of virtual reality, augmented reality (AR) technology has been actively developing. In augmented reality, also called mixed reality, the environment is not completely replaced by an artificially created one. AR implies the use of any gadget with a camera, when turned on, digital objects are projected onto the environment. This technology is used in medicine in preparation for operations, in tourism for ease of navigation, in aviation, for example, in pilot training, design. There are even attempts to create feature films in augmented reality. Cinematic experiments are conducted by American video game developer Duncan Walker. It creates dynamic models (game characters) that can be run in any location chosen by the user and follow the development of the plot. Despite the seeming futuristic, people use augmented reality every day, for example, using different masks and filters in the social network Instagram. In design and engineering, with the help of AR projections, specialists can visualize their projects without creating time-consuming layouts. Mixed reality in art is used to demonstrate installations — digital images are projected on a smartphone screen without taking up space in the exhibition hall. This allows you to experiment with the form and even "animate" your paintings ^[8]. Objects in AR can be interacted with via the gadget screen. This gives a new experience of perception and the surrounding world appears in this experience as a canvas for the artist and a recognizable place of action for the viewer. Technology transforms the real space.

A striking example of the success of augmented reality as a means of cyber escapism is the mobile game "Pokemon Go". This application is a synthesis of a new technology and a well-known animation universe. The user searches for cartoon characters projected onto the environment using the camera in his smartphone. At the same time, players actively spend time without giving up the use of digital technologies. The characters of the animated series "Pokemon" were especially popular in the late 1990s, publishing an unusual interactive game, the authors both gained new young fans and brought back the audience that was children in the 90s and remembers the original series. Jean Baudrillard wrote that such a craving for memorabilia is a form of escape from reality ^[10]. The adult audience's fascination with the game "Pokemon Go" is also a form of escape to the past, when life was more exciting and easier. Thus, “Pokemon Go” turned out to be a successful means for cyber escapism. This project showed prospects for entertainment in augmented reality.

Popular AR applications are not always games. For example, Google Translator allows you to translate text posted outside the Internet into different languages, that is, on signs, labels or restaurant menus, which greatly simplifies the life of tourists. The "Froggipedia" AR tutorial projects a frog model onto any surface and helps to study the life cycle and structure of an amphibian without disturbing living creatures. "SketchAR" is an application for teaching drawing, in it you can determine in advance the composition and important parts of the drawing on the sheet. "BBC Civilisations AR" is an application in which you can examine historical artifacts in detail with a detailed description. And, of course, the impressive "Star Walk 2" — a projection of the starry sky with the names and trajectories of the movement of celestial bodies. With its help, you can find out which constellations are in the field of view, whether there are visible planets of the solar system and where space stations are located.

One of the disadvantages of the method of overcoming cyber escapism using AR is the technical aspect – to create high-quality content so that it can visually compete with two-dimensional virtual worlds, more advanced means and the spread of 5G communications are required. It is also possible to note the relatively high cost of existing AR-devices.

So, the undesirable influence of the virtual digital environment can be reduced by returning a person to the real environment. This can be done without abandoning technology and the Internet with the help of augmented reality, translating digital products to a mixed type of environment. The popularity of already created applications, the versatile orientation of their use, indicate the prospects for further development of screen culture in this direction.