As a child, I remember having one of those toy cameras that showed famous places through picture slides you would click to change. For me and many others, virtual reality is the View-Master of our generation.

With all the advancements and increased interest in VR, we’re on the brink of a brave new world filled with mind-bendingly immersive VR experiences. However, today, virtual reality is pretty much like what the internet was in the 90s, which is to say that we’ve barely scratched the surface of its potential applications.

And the UAE is running head-to-head with the rest of the world when it comes to virtual reality. The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has its own VR tourism app (UAE VR) to give users a firsthand experience of the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Moreover, the government of Sharjah introduced the Sharjah VR app, in which you can walk the cobblestoned streets of Souk Al Arsah or even get up close and personal with the Arabian leopard at Arabia’s Wildlife Centre.

In 1968, computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, with the help of his student Bob Sproull, created the first VR and augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display (HMD). Aptly named “The Sword of Damocles”, the HMD had to be suspended from the ceiling using a mechanical arm and was able to overlay wireframe interiors onto a room.

Over the next couple of decades, the VR industry continued to develop; however, VR’s appeal was limited to the most ambitious creators and engineers, given the cost of components and the computer powerhouses that ran them. Even in the early 90s, a decent VR device would cost about Dh200,000. As a result, virtual reality was pretty much a distant dream for the average consumer.

Skip forward four decades to Palmer Luckey’s parents’ basement, where, as an 18-year old, he created his first VR prototype, which was eventually developed and is today known as the Oculus Rift. Not only did Oculus rekindle interest in this almost forgotten technology, but also breathed new life into it.

Now, innovators, tech enthusiasts, the developer community, and lighthouse customers were closely following the Oculus, all of whom were eagerly awaiting to get a glimpse of this new development in VR. And before long, this newfound interest was bolstered by tech giants such as Google, Samsung, and Sony, all working on their own versions of the virtual reality headset.

Then in March of 2014, Facebook showed the world that it meant business by acquiring Oculus VR for $2 billion (Dh7.34 billion), with Zuckerberg stating that their “mission is to make the world more open and connected.

In a very short period of time, with the kind of interest that virtual reality has garnered, VR has become a household discussion. Consumers can now get a basic virtual reality experience with something as inexpensive as the Google Cardboard for as low as $15.00. All you need now is your smartphone and you can get a first-person view of international destinations and even Mars right from your living room.

Even YouTube and Facebook have jumped on the VR bandwagon, allowing users to upload and view 360° VR videos. VR feels so real that it imprints a memory into your mind that you were actually there.

It’s not just tourist destinations, but with VR, you can attend any sports game, even a concert — with the best seat in the house - from the comfort of your couch. Even real estate developers are utilizing VR to create virtual walkthroughs of their properties, giving “property hunting” a totally different meaning. As I indicated previously, we’ve hardly scratched the surface when it comes to what VR can do.

Imagine sitting at your plush office in Downtown Dubai and conducting in-person meetings with your clients in New York, Tokyo, and Mumbai, all at the same time, with a virtual whiteboard for taking notes. VR is being tested as a pain management tool as well, for helping patients recover from medical issues by retraining the brain to adjust to new circumstances. It’s already being used to treat stroke patients and those with Parkinson’s, helping them repossess control of their mobility.

There’s much more to VR than this, than any of us can fathom. And the tech is only going to get smaller, faster and much more sophisticated.

— The writer is the Director and Co-Founder of Merlin Digital.