The company has been attracting criticism from a broad swath of the public wary of its penchant for tracking online behavior and selling the data to advertisers. The prospect of Facebook bringing its trademark dominance to the next big thing in technology has many people worried. It would also position itself to determine not just how we swap posts online, but much of what we experience in an increasingly simulated world-in work, play, education, family, health, commerce and even love. If Facebook succeeds in its quest to bring VR to social-media masses, it could bring a level of realism and ease-of-use to remote interactions that makes Zoom video look like stone tablets by comparison. Even Facebook's critics acknowledge that its newest headset-the standalone $299 Oculus Quest 2, which Marren used in her theater outing-is just the sort of high-performing, affordable entry the industry needs to launch VR into the realm of the mass market. For better or worse, the social-media company is going all in on the technology, devoting considerable technical, financial and marketing resources in an effort to transform it from a niche technology to a vastly entertaining and useful new form of reality-and a surprisingly affordable one. To bring VR into the mainstream, what's been missing is the backing of a Silicon Valley behemoth. In recent years, VR has been quietly moving into many aspects of current life-in corporate training and hospital therapies, for instance. That is changing quickly, thanks to advances in technology and a growing demand, fueled by life under COVID, for new ways of remotely interacting with people. Virtual reality has thrived in a small but enthusiastic community of video gamers for years, but so far it has failed to break through to the larger world of digital intercourse. In this photo illustration, the Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a TV screen displaying the Facebook logo on Decemin Paris, France.

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