Meta Glasses

I spot my best friend’s bright blue sunglasses from a long way off. It’s our going-away party at a brewery in Fort Worth. I smile from ear to ear as we fast-walk toward each other across the blistering concrete, 101º to be exact, and embrace each other as is our custom. Little did I know, as we were rehearsing this reunion like we’ve done countless times before, Jaylin had background music playing in his head through his sunglasses.

It was only later that his new Oakley x Meta Glasses came up in conversation. Immediately I asked to try them on, and music started playing in my head. Nothing was in my ears, of course. After the press of a button, I was told that I was recording everyone craning their neck to check out my new look. 30 seconds later, the group was fighting for a look at Jaylin’s phone, where they could re-live that entire moment from my eyes, in 4K.

The group’s conversation launched into content creation, of all things. I watched the gears turn inside several of my friends’ heads, even those that wouldn’t dare think of themselves as a “content creator,” as they pondered the ease in which they’d be able to document their lives. It’s as if our collective consciousness was saying, “Perhaps this is the future, perhaps this is for me?”

I get it. I wore the glasses and felt the power, like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Except Frodo didn’t have a sultry female voice in his head when he said, “Hey Meta?”

In one sense, this is not a new innovation. This is just another smart product, boasting the same value proposition as the smart phone, the smart watch, or the smart car.

In another sense, it is new, because it’s novel. And the period of novelty allows for much more open conversations, unlike the period of normalization. So, The Lord of the Rings might be instructive. Perhaps also, it’s time to brush up on how we think about privacy.

The truth must be pursued with others, ideally a community in which we ask, “To what end?” and, “At what cost?”