Virtual Reality Addiction Hits New Highs

We have reached a grim milestone this month as deaths related to Virtual Reality Addiction (V.R.A) have reached an all-time high. It was during an address to the Assembly of American Health Professionals in New York this afternoon that Mayor Watts confirmed that five individuals have been found deceased in July, often still plugged into their consoles and registered as online, some still active within their game’s reality.  

It is estimated that one in ten Americans now suffer from V.R.A. An extreme addiction that can lead to death is still extremely rare, however, as most users experience only mild addiction when compared to other drugs and alcohol. This has led to a somewhat relaxed view of the condition by both the health industry, governing officials and the public who’ve largely overlooked the severity of the illness. Some have even suggested that V.R.A. is beneficial to reducing addiction in these other areas. 

The Mayor used her address today to bring the reality of V.R.A to light. Audience members gasped at what they saw, with some holding their heads in their hands or refusing to look at the images at all. Audiences could not believe the state of the victims' living spaces: ‘filthy, disgusting, putrid,’ were just some of the words called out by the distressed attendees. Most victims die alone, some in groups of three or four, cramped in their tiny apartments, their V.R. set up side by side - none of them leaving the room for days at a time. Audience members remarked how the V.R. set-up was eerily similar to their own, and many in attendance stormed out of the building when Watts showed pictures of the victims - some being found months after they had died, their bodies already beginning to decompose.  

“It has been ten years since V.R.A. was officially recognised as a mental health condition - and what have we done in those ten years? Little to nothing, I’d say. We’ve hidden behind legislature, behind policy-making and meek funding drives. We should be out there, making a difference!” 

  - Mayor Watts, today, speaking to the A.A.H.P.