The Vision Pro headset leaves me with a lingering impression of loneliness, as the majority images it conjures up in my imagination based on what I have seen are solitary and not social.

In a recent podcast, I discussed how the iPhone remains central to the Apple ecosystem, while devices like the Vision Pro seem soulless and unsociable.

This could be true for all virtual reality headsets, to be fair.

Interestingly, I don’t recall having seen any photos or videos of Apple executives wearing or demonstrating the Vision Pro headset, unlike Zuckerberg's live demo with the Quest headset for the Metaverse. Is it because they've tested it and found that people have negative perceptions about wearing one? Or is there an "uncanny valley" effect at play?

In my podcast on The Business of Tech, I suggested that people need eye contact to fully engage with others. While projecting eyes onto the outside of a Vision Pro headset may work technically, it might leave users feeling uncomfortable in practice. Perhaps this is why Apple executives haven't been seen wearing them – they're concerned about managing impressions.

Apple may still be working out how to create a positive experience for both customers using their products and those interacting with them in real life while inside these headsets. Impression management will be critical - not just how Apple is perceived by the world, but how Vision Pro users will be perceived by others.

I still remember when AirPods looked weird on people. I’m not seeing us approach a point where googles won’t look weird any time soon.

Mark Gurman has just written about how there is already a consumer version of the Vision Pro in the works. Apple's hoping the Vision Pro's price doesn't scare people away, and that they can buy a cheaper version in 2026.

That cheaper, consumer version is also going to have to solve the problem of glasses vs goggles so people can see your eyes in real-life, and how to move from solitary to social. Because no matter how you spin in, wearing goggles and interacting with 4K screens dangling before your eyes while other people perceive you as closed off to them is going to slam into the psychological problem of eye contact for engagement.

And I’m betting that a projection is not going to solve that conundrum.

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