--- title: "This Guy Spent a Whole Week In a VR Headset" description: "Jak Wilmot, co-founder of Disrupt VR, an Atlanta-based VR content studio, spent 168 consecutive hours in a VR headset, locked up in his apartment." date: "2019-03-15" modified: "2019-03-15" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/guy-week-vr-headset" categories: - "Future Society" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "oculus rift" - "virtual reality" - "vr" - "vr headset" --- # This Guy Spent a Whole Week In a VR Headset ![Jak Wilmot, co-founder of Disrupt VR, an Atlanta-based VR content studio, spent 168 consecutive hours in a VR headset, locked up in his apartment.]() *\Image: Martin Sanchez via Unsplash/Tag Hartman-Simkins\* ## The Dumbest Thing Jak Wilmot, the co-founder of Atlanta-based VR content studioDisrupt VR, spent 168 consecutive hours in a VR headset — that's a full week — pent up in his apartment. "This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever done, but welcome to a week in the future," he said in a video about the experiment. To make the experience even more futuristic, Wilmot livestreamed the entire week on Twitch late last month, later uploading a wrapup video on his entire week on YouTube. https://youtu.be/BGRY14znFxY The rules were simple: he could switch from a computer-based Oculus headset to a different, untethered headset for thirty seconds while his eyes were closed. His windows were blacked out, he said, so that his physical body didn't have to rely on the daylight-dependent circadian rhythm. His more mobile VR headset had a built in camera in the front, so that he was able to "see" his physical surroundings — but not directly with his own eyes. ## "Everything is in the Headset" Wilmot worked, ate and exercised inside virtual reality. Sleeping in the headset turned out to be "more comfortable" than Wilmot anticipated, though his eyes burned a bit. "If one is feeling stressed, they can load into a natural environment for ten minutes and relax," he said in the video. "If one is feeling energetic, they can dispel energy in a fitness game — these are like the new rules of the reality I've thrown myself in. Everything is in the headset." ## VR Connection Wilmot believes that virtual reality is what you make it. If you want to be alone, you can spend time by yourself in a gaming session, slaying dragons in Skyrim VR. Or you can chose to join the cacophony of VRChat — a communal free-for-all multiplayer online platform that allows you to interact with avatars controlled by complete strangers. "VR is stepping into the shoes of someone else, or stepping into a spaceship and talking to friends," said Wilmot. "It's very easy to find your tribe, to make friends, to communicate with others through a virtual landscape, where its no longer through digital window \[like a monitor\], but actually being there with them. To me that's what VR is — connection." ## Escaping Virtual Reality After seven days of living inside the headset, Wilmot took off the goggles and relearned what it's like to live in the real world. https://twitter.com/JakWilmot/status/1100818652369207298?s=20 Apart from slight dizziness and some disorientation, he came back to normal almost instantly. One major advantage to not living inside a VR headset: "oh my gosh," he said, "the graphics are so good." **READ MORE:** [This Guy Is Spending A Full Week In VR, For Science]() \[*VR Scout*\] **More on virtual reality:** *[Sex Researchers: For Many, Virtual Lovers Will Replace Humans]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()