Texas Monthly posted an article about Virtual Reality and possible benefits to seniors’ health. Sali Fonda hasn’t been scuba diving in twenty years. She was seventy the last time. Now, at ninety, the former bodybuilder is about to jump into the deep again—this time into a cage that will protect her in the shark-filled sea.
In reality, there is no shark cage here, no sharks, either, and certainly no ocean. Fonda has virtual-reality goggles strapped to her head, and she’s sitting in a padded swivel chair inside an activity room at Atria at the Arboretum, a senior living apartment complex in northwest Austin. It’s there that she dives into an immersive experience—an underwater scene filmed in 360 degrees. Fonda moves her head up and down, left and right, the view changing with each turn. Schools of fish bobble above. Sharks glide all around. Fonda reaches a hand out toward one of the ocean predators. “Whoa,” says the nonagenarian with blondish white hair.
“That was fun!” Fonda says, laughing as she talks. “I was right there! I loved it!” Later, when some of the adrenaline has worn off, Fonda tells me, “When you’re ninety, your life is over. This is going to make life new again.”
MyndVR is one of just a few tech firms targeting the senior set with custom-made virtual experiences that range from skydiving to Broadway shows. The company believes that kind of content can provide more than entertainment; it can also serve as therapy—perhaps even FDA-approved therapy—for seniors in assisted living and memory care units.
Whether VR experiences actually benefit senior brains or not, facing down sharks and jumping out of virtual airplanes sounds like a nice, safe way to catch a Buzz.
– Jet Cannon
