GLASS FEAR

Posted on June 23, 2014

Who is afraid of Google Glass?

The assumption with Google Glass today is that you know you’re on camera – and you no longer know if you’re being filmed by your conversation partner or not.

First there was the Google Car. Now, there’s Google Glass, which hasn’t even launched publicly yet and is already causing initial public discomfort, nicknamed the new ‘Segway’ – a costly, crazy-looking device too weird to be revolutionary.

Google Glass looks just like a pair of glasses, sans the lenses. What it is, is a band across your forehead with a tiny screen fixed on the upper-right side.

With a simple tap of the earpiece and spoken commands, the user can direct it to perform the tasks of a smart phone, such as saving a memo or doing a quick internet search.

One would think that the biggest concern this device would have is the distraction it would cause, and the new heights of impoliteness it implies when you scan your e-mail during a face-to-face conversation.

Despite this, it was shown that Google Glass doesn’t put anything in front your eyes. Its screen is actually so small that it doesn’t block your normal vision. And because it’s actually hands-free, it should be exceptionally handy.

On the other hand, Google Glass may have difficulty in obtaining social acceptance, and not just for its price and for being another gadget you have to charge every night.

The biggest obstacle here is the arrogance of people who wear the Glass, and the discomfort of everyone who doesn’t.
Google employees have been allowed to wear the glass for a year. People have said that interaction with users of Google Glass is awkward and ‘screamingly uncomfortable.’

Google Glass was described by one observer as a “creepy-looking, faux-futuristic forehead band with a built-in video camera pointed at my face.” It brings about paranoia that one is actually being recorded on the device.

The Google Glass wearers are put in control where they can take pictures and videos, post things online and even possibly use face-recognition applications to identify strangers in a crowd.

However, months before its public launch, a bar in Seattle had them banned, saying that his patrons wouldn’t want to be secretly filmed or videotaped and put on the internet.