Welcome to the age of Apple Vision Bros: how early adopters of a new $3,500 headset are pushing the boundaries of where they can use it – from behind the wheel of cars, on the subway, and skateboarding!

Apple’s new augmented reality headset, the $3,500 Vision Pro, is barely more than two weeks old, but early adopters are already pushing the limits of where they can test their new toy in polite society.

Social media is awash with posts showing mesmerized Vision Pro users interacting with their virtual environments in public, looking like futuristic mimes.

While many of these videos have proven themselves to be influencers performing stunts for clicks, Apple’s big bet on its expensive wearable glasses means customers will be looking for any excuse to get their money’s worth and show off their luxury tech -splurge.

Or, as one Instagram user put it, “Welcome to the age of the Vision Bro.”

Apple’s safety information didn’t stop YouTuber Casey Neistat (above) from skateboarding down a Manhattan bus lane while wearing the headset during his review – a stunt that earned him more than 4 million views in just 48 hours.

Tesla owner Dante Lentini, 21, went viral on Elon Musk’s X last week for a video that appeared to show him being pulled over by police for using his Vision Pro while driving on the highway.

Lentini told it later Popular science that the entire clip was shot “skit style” and that “the police weren’t even in the parking lot for me to begin with.”

However, safety information for Apple Vision Pro on the company’s website explicitly prohibits use of the headset while driving, regardless of intent.

“Never use Apple Vision Pro while operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in other situations that require attention to safety,” the company said.

This didn’t stop YouTuber Casey Neistat from skateboarding down a downtown Manhattan bus lane while wearing the headset during his review – a stunt that earned him more than 4 million views in just 48 hours.

Another YouTuber, Shervin Stocks and his housemates from ‘the Content Closet’ challenged each other to wear the Vision Pro for 24 hours straight.

Given the device’s two-hour battery life, this could mean having 12 charged batteries each, or at least a few that alternately charge while waiting.

Their glasses tour of New York took them to Time Square, where the shiny animated billboards collided with the Vision Pro’s augmented reality, as well as with the city’s public transportation.

To pay their way to the subway, Shares and his friends share leaned over and placed their face and headset inches away from the scanner, where less tech-savvy New Yorkers would have simply swiped their debit card or used Apple Pay from their iPhone instead.

“We’ve been wearing these for three hours now,” Share’s content partner Colt Kirwan told viewers, “and I now feel (like) a dent in my forehead.”

With over 600 apps and games designed specifically to take advantage of the Vision Pro’s capabilities, and a million legacy apps compatible with the device, it’s hard to predict how many more social media content users will come from the headset will push. .

But some are already dreading the prospect of others’ augmented reality intruding on their own regular reality.

When Zipeng Zhua Chinese-born designer and art director, posted his parody ‘Vision Bro’ ads on Instagramone commentator summarized the sentiment that these performative public expeditions with the software can evoke.

“Doesn’t look good,” said the commentator.

Another commenter said, “I pinch,” referring to the squeezing motion Apple has chosen as the Vision Pro’s response to clicks. Zhu joked, “iPinch.”

When Zipeng Zhu, a Chinese-born designer and art director, posted his parody “Vision Bro” ads on Instagram, one commenter summed up the sentiment that these performative public expeditions can evoke with the software: “Not a good look,” said the commentator.

Another commenter said, “I pinch,” referring to the squeezing motion Apple has chosen as the Vision Pro’s response to clicks. Zhu joked: ‘iPinch’

Outside of the culture of influencers and content creators, my heartfelt Apple fans are more quietly debating how and where to best use the Vision Pro’s new, new ‘spatial computing’ interface.

There are genuine attempts to integrate the Vision Pro into everyday life not only functionally but also sartorially – with some suggesting that only a ‘Matrix’-inspired or mid-00s cyberpunk aesthetic will do the trick.

Even dedicated followers of the developments in virtual reality hardware – a visionary concept that has taken decades of false starts and risky ventures to get where it is today – are unsure where it is acceptable to use their Vision Pro .

“Does anyone else have any doubts about Vision Pro being worn in public?” asked a Reddit user in the r/virtual reality sub-Reddit.

The user, who goes by the name freshclover, wondered if the problem is simply that the technology is too new and the social signals surrounding it haven’t yet normalized.

“Even then, using VR while going out to dinner with your friends will always seem dystopian to me,” Freshclover added. “It feels like the equivalent of talking to someone while looking at your phone.”

There are genuine attempts to integrate the Vision Pro into everyday life not only functionally but also sartorially – with some suggesting that only a ‘Matrix’-inspired or mid-00s cyberpunk aesthetic will do the trick.

Apple sold out its VisionPro pre-orders on January 19, selling 200,000 devices. Above, a moderator of Reddit’s ‘Wall Street Bets’ wonders which of those 200,000 will be the first to use the Vision Pro so irresponsibly that they die

Elsewhere, a moderator of Reddit’s ‘Wall Street Bets’ wondered in a message to

“Who will be the first person to be hit by a car while wearing their Apple Vision Pro?” they asked.

But even the more serious Apple fans and Vision Pro consumers in Reddit’s virtual reality subreddit had similar questions among themselves, with some speculating that the disaster could stem from the headset’s minuscule two-hour battery life.

‘It will be interesting to see what happens when the battery runs out’ Reddit user MrRandomNumber said, “and the real world suddenly turns into pitch black space.”

“I hope they don’t drive when it happens.”