Facebook’s Ray-Ban Stories
Ray-Ban Stories is Facebook’s first attempt at a pair of smart glasses, and the company now known as Meta is clearly gearing up for whatever the metaverse ends up being with this wearable. But a pair of glasses that can record people surreptitiously is not exactly what anyone wants, as Google Glass already proved. Ray-Ban Stories look great and work even better. That’s what makes them bad.
Launched as an answer to the “smart” glasses released by its competitors in recent years, including Google Glass and Snap’s Spectacles, the Stories look basically identical to a stylish pair of Ray-Bans, save for a tiny button on the right-hand arm that allows you to capture photos and videos of whatever it is that you’re facing.
Partnering with a cool brand was a good get—particularly for a notoriously dorky brand like Facebook—precisely because it masks the very uncool potential of these glasses to be used for nefarious purposes. Would you get on the subway and hold your phone up to somebody’s face so that they knew you were recording them? Probably not, because they’d feel so uncomfortable. And yet, this is the brave new world we’re hurtling toward: a cold, unfeeling virtual reality that alienates us from our most human impulses while simultaneously funneling our data back to Facebook—sorry—Meta. —Brianna Provenzano
