After Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be changing its name to “Meta” in 2021, the hype surrounding the metaverse reached a fever pitch. Alongside this media attention grew confusion about the nature and potential of metaverse worlds. Does a metaverse have the potential to transform our everyday experiences? Will it worsen the toxicity present in current online environments? And, most hotly debated, will metaverse worlds ever catch on? This infographic was created to respond to these questions, clarifying what the “metaverse” looks like now, and contextualizing its opportunities and threats.
Written by Steering Committee Member Sophie Maddocks; infographic created by Madison Miller, Center for Media at Risk Administrative Coordinator and Joanna Birkner, Programming Coordinator.
Sophie Maddocks is a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication and a Member of the Center for Media at Risk’s steering committee. Her work charts the everyday experiences of adolescent girls in relation to sexuality, technology and identity. Follow her on Twitter @Sophie_J_J
