Quantifying Social Presence in Mixed Reality: A Contemporary Review of Techniques and Innovations

TL;DR

This review examines how mixed reality enhances social presence and interactions, analyzing technological, psychological, and social factors, while addressing challenges to widespread adoption through experimental insights.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of MR's impact on social presence, integrating technological and psychological perspectives, and presents experimental data on social dynamics in MR environments.

Findings

MR improves social presence and interaction quality

Device constraints and privacy issues hinder adoption

Experiments show variations in social anxiety and interaction levels

Abstract

This literature review investigates the transformative potential of mixed reality (MR) technology, where we explore the intersection of contemporary technological advancements, modern deep learning recommendation systems, and social psychology frameworks. This interdisciplinary study informs the understanding of MR's role in improving social presence, catalyzing novel social interactions, and enhancing the quality of interpersonal communication in the real world. We also discuss the challenges and barriers blocking the wide-spread adoption of social networking in MR, such as device constraints, privacy and accessibility concerns, and social norms. Through carefully structured, closed-environment experiments with diverse participants of varying levels of digital literacy, we measure the differences in social dynamics, frequency, quality, and duration of interactions, and levels of social anxiety between MR-enhanced, mobile-enhanced, and control condition participants.