Why staring at screens is making us feel queasy

Some of the most exciting advances in technology, such as virtual reality, wearable tech, superfast smartphones, 3D films and operating systems – may all be destroyed by a basic human illness weakness, called motion sickness!

When you walk into a room, you will see the visual input that shows us we’re moving, and our organs of balance tell us we are moving, as does the perception from your muscles and bones. Below deck on a ship, you are physically moving, but because you are moving with the boat, the visual field seems to be standing still. Because these two conflict, you will get motion sickness, which includes vomiting and dizziness.

With digital motion sickness, it is in the opposite direction. You are standing still, but you’re watching something that’s moving. Again these two conflict and cause motion sickness; this is a completely natural response to an unnatural environment.

However, this issue is something that virtual reality headset makers have to confront. Developing higher resolution images and reducing the lag between the movement of your head and what you seen on screen will reduce or eliminate motion sickness.

Some gamers suggest taking pills designed to combat travel sickness, but really you don’t want people to start taking medication so they’re able to be immersed in a virtual environment. It is possible to train yourself out of motion sickness, simply start slowly, reduce the time you’re exposed to it, and have resting time between. This doesn’t help everyone though!

Will we just have to live with the fact that vomiting and nausea is going to be part of life? Or are we reaching our limits? It won’t be very fun sitting in our driverless cars wearing virtual reality headsets, if we have to always carry a barf bag around with us

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