Anecdotally, the pattern many of us have seen keep happening over the last 5+ years is that enthusiasm and novelty is very very high when first discovering these modern lightweight headsets but then usage just falls off a cliff after a while.
You're in the first phase. Maybe the second phase won't arrive for you.
They're extremely exciting, but seem to get a little same-y or something. Only insiders really know, but there might be a bit of an invisible ceiling that somebody still needs to figure out how to break through in order to keep engagement up. It might be a killer app, it might be a further advances in mixed reality, it might be continued reduction in weight or increases in display quality, but it also might just be that there's an inherent limitation that prevents them from taking over the world. Not every cool gadget does.
I think VR will gradually and massively extend the capabilities of humanity but not revolutionize them. Regular screens, phones, etc will still exist, they will always have a place in our society. But VR will more and more become an accepted and common tool, for use cases that are different from regular devices. Until suddenly you realize that indeed they are everywhere and you use them all the time. It's not going to be an immediate "revolution" the way ChatGPT was (I think you could probably say the same about any hardware innovation).
I think the closest comparison is that VR right now is like PDAs in the 90s. Yeah, everyone knew they were the future, but the hardware absolutely blew, And it took another 10-20 years to arrive at the perfect form factor of a smartphone. Lots of hardware innovations need to happen for VR - hell, not a single consumer headset has shipped with a vergence-accommodation conflict solution. But give it another 10-20 years and I am certain we'll be seeing that smartphone type moment.
It's nice to know you're in the good old days before you've left them. :-)
I can definitely see the novelty wearing off given enough time, same as anything. Plus to your point you can clearly see apps follow one of a few formulas.
You're in the first phase. Maybe the second phase won't arrive for you.
They're extremely exciting, but seem to get a little same-y or something. Only insiders really know, but there might be a bit of an invisible ceiling that somebody still needs to figure out how to break through in order to keep engagement up. It might be a killer app, it might be a further advances in mixed reality, it might be continued reduction in weight or increases in display quality, but it also might just be that there's an inherent limitation that prevents them from taking over the world. Not every cool gadget does.