Don't buy AR glasses

The piece argues against buying augmented-reality glasses, not because they lack useful features but because their convenience could make people dependent on an always-on screen. It begins with a comparison to the short film Hyper-Reality, whose vision of a cluttered, gamified digital world now resembles parts of the web and apps, including services packed with ads, pop-ups, and manipulative design. The author sees no reason to expect the companies responsible for those experiences to behave differently when they bring interfaces into AR.

Phones are generally expected to stay in pockets at meals or while crossing streets, but glasses are made to be worn throughout the day; as they become lighter, constant use may become normal. That would let the attention economy follow people everywhere, potentially placing advertising and intrusive interfaces directly over the physical world. The author predicts that Apple, Google, and Meta will build frameworks allowing businesses to put content and pop-ups in arbitrary real-world locations. Drawing on the history of browser pop-ups, which were constrained by blockers before migrating into webpages, the piece warns that AR could provide a new escape route for them. Its recommendation is to keep using a smartphone, resist adopting an always-on heads-up display, and avoid becoming reliant on a technology whose business incentives may eventually degrade the experience.