My app is World View. It is software that would allow you to change how you see certain things physically in the world. This is not an app to help you have a different perspective on a political topic. It will literally change the physical appearance of something. For example, I am terrified of spiders. Even just a picture makes me extremely uncomfortable. I can look at them without becoming scared. This app would allow the user to change them to something else, but the app would still let the user know that there is a spider and what you are seeing is an altered image.

I picked this citieria because this is an idea I have had for a while. One time that I really wished this was a thing was during an episode of breaking bad. It was a very critical episode that featured a tarantula. I was constantly worried that the spider would reappear, that it took me out of the episode. This was super upsetting since this episode was incredibly important. 

The app could be used by everyone. There are plenty of people with severe phobias similar to mine. Snakes, for example, could be another one, or bats. It could be anything the user doesn’t like or is afraid of. The app will still let them know that it is in front of them. They will not confuse a snake for a smiley face or a spider for a red square. The app will inform them that what they are seeing is something they chose to block out.

The one concerning aspects is the social costs. While I would only use it for spiders, others could block out whatever they don’t like, causing them to live in a bubble. It could cause people to block out more and more of the world until they live in a perpetual comfort zone. This obviously is a bad thing and could cause a lot of people to become disconnected from reality. Other than that big one there are no large costs that come to mind.