#i know where a ceo lives that would look better ashy

[morgana-ren]

I could've radicalized Tomura

[atomic-taco-muffin]

The Lost Princess Chapter 68

Warnings: I think it’s fluff/angst

Rating: SFW

In the Badlands on the outskirts of the Keyblade Graveyard, two figures stood atop thirteen pillars of earth. Both in black cloaks, the man with blue hair spoke first.

“Humanity is a precious gift. And yet you desire to return to the Organization?” he said. 

“Oh, yes...of course. One eradication at Axel's hands was enough to learn where NOT to place my trust,” the second figure said. 

“He gave you a second lease on life.” 

“He ripped me away from the one thing I care about. I don't require humanity. Give me my research. I must see it to fruition, no matter the cost.”

“The replicas.” 

“Yes.” The hooded man laughed. “Soon they will replace, not just replicate. Given a heart, they can become just as real as any human.” 

“What excellent tidings. I would hate to think we invited you back into our ranks only for you to fail to deliver our final vessel...” The man takes off his hood, revealing the yellow eyes and ashy blond hair of... “Vexen.” 

“But remember...” Vexen said. 

“Of course.” 

“Protect the royal bloodline,” the both of them said. 

~~~~

You and the others sailed the Gummi Ship to a world of doors and monsters. The stars twinkled in the night sky as you all walked towards a large factory building taking in the sights. Sora stopped, turning around...There was something different about you all. As you and the others finally got a glimpse of one another, you all jumped back in fright, summoning your weapons. Sora held his Keyblade tightly, facing you and the others. He took a moment to distinguish the features of you and the others. But the thing was, you and the girls looked normal. 

‘Right, they’re Spirits. They can’t change forms that quickly,’ he said in his head.

“Wha...? D-Donald...Goofy...Sora...Vanitas...Why do you guys look like monsters?” you asked.

“Yeah, you’re really creeping us out,” Roxy said. 

“Although, Sora and Vanitas look kind of cute,” Rumi said. 

“Yeah, you got a point there,” Yui said. Sora had sports gray striped fur all over his body, a brand new tail, claws and spiky ears. Vanitas was the same way but had a darker color. Donald walked forward, lowering his wand. His feathers were now blue skin, his webbed feet now three-toed claws. His beak showed two fang-like protrusions as his tail ended in a spike, and two small purple wings stuck out from his back. He peered at Goofy from his single large eye. Goofy, on the other hand, now had two different sized and colored eyes, teal spotted skin and huge claws. Sora looked down at himself.

“Seriously? Is THIS how we blend in here?” he asked. 

“That's right. It's about time you caught on,” Donald said. You all walked closer to Sora, who scratched his face.

“Could you guys take a few steps back? You're givin' me the heebie- jeebies. Except you girls. You’re not creepy,” he said. 

“Yeah. Especially you Goofy. You’re really freaking me out,” Vanitas said. 

“YOU take a step back!” Donald yelled. Sora cowered, sparking a chuckle from Goofy.

“Come on, I think our new look could turn out to be lots of fun!” he said, causing Rumi to hide behind you. Sora and Vanitas shrugged and looked back up at the building. A large symbol of a M with an eye inside was stamped on the outside of the factory.

“Wonder what kind of weirdos live here...” Sora said. Goofy crouched next to Donald to whisper in his ear.

“Who'da thunk he'd get so creeped out?” he asked. Donald and Goofy giggled as you, Vanitas, Sora, and the girls read the words above the entranceway. There was scaffolding set up over the left side of the message.

“It says, ‘We Scare Because We Care’?” you asked. 

“That's odd,” Yui said. 

“Doesn't sound very caring,” Rumi said. 

“If they look like us, then they could be trouble. I think we'd better investigate,” Vanitas said. You and the others entered the factory doors and in the large lobby, you all saw two strange creatures. One very large and fuzzy and the other small and green. The larger one was holding a young toddler, causing you all alarm.

“Oh no!” Goofy said. 

“Weeee!” the toddler said. The girl poke out from over the monsters arms. She was wearing an oversized pink shirt and had tiny pigtails.

“Boo!” she said. The big monster turned around and saw you and your team, the little girl squirming in his fluffy claws.

“Hmm? I wonder who those guys are. And I wonder why there’s four human girls with them,” he said. The little green monster looked up at the big one through his single giant eyeball.

“What?! Careful, Sulley. If they see the K-I-D...” he said. 

“It's fine. We got nothing to hide.” 

“But you're the CEO! You set the example.” Sulley caved and set the girl on the floor as the green thing ran over to you and your team, waving his little arms.

“Guys! Guys, it's not what it looks like. Okay, listen. That kid over there just popped out of nowhere!” he said. He slammed his fist into his hand and you all gave him disapproving looks.

“We gotta call the CDA. Uh... It's a...uh... Oh yeah, a Code 835!” the monster said. Sora and Vanitas pointed his Keyblade at him causing him to clam up.

“Are you trying to scare that little girl?” Sora asked. Sulley raised an eyebrow.

“Yes! I mean, no no no!” the green monster said as he waved his arms frantically. “We're done with scare power. Nobody's gettin' scared.” 

“Mike, take it easy,” Sulley said. 

“You should too, guys. Ya see? She's happy!” Rumi said as she allowed the toddler to play with her bunny ears.

“Bunny!” she said. The toddler giggled and ran up to Sulley and bounced in front of him, who pet her on the head, making her giggle.

“Oh,” Vanitas said. He and Sora chuckled sheepishly as they and Donald put away their weapons. They walked up to the girl and crouched down.

“Hello. My name is Sora.” 

“And I’m Vanitas.” 

“Boo!” the girl said as she trotted over to them. 

“Oh, is that your name? Nice to meet you, Boo,” Sora said. She screamed excitedly, making Rumi’s heart melt. 

“Hold on! You guys really aren't afraid of humans?” Mike said. 

“You do see us, right?” Roxy asked. 

“Mike Wazowski,” Boo said. She pointed at Donald, who jumped in surprise, staring at her with his cyclops eye.

“Come on, Boo! I'M Mike Wazowski,” Mike said. 

“Mike Wazowski.” She continued pointing at Donald, waving her arm up and down. Sulley laughed.

“Well, you can see the resemblance. That googly bear eye,” he said. 

“What's going on? I'm Donald Duck!” 

“Mike Wazowski!” Boo said. Sora and Vanitas smiled as she started chasing Donald around the room.

“A-hyuck! I'm Goofy.” 

“I’m (Y/N).”

“The name’s Roxy.”

“I’m her twin sister, Yui.” 

“And I’m Rumi!” 

“We’re Spirits!” you and the girls said. 

“Well, my name's Sulley. And this is--”

“Oh, we know. Mike Wazowski, right?” you said. 

“How come you girls look normal?” Sulley asked. 

“It’s part of our Spirit powers,” you and the girls said. Boo jumped out from behind you as you all laughed, but soon hid behind Sulley nervously.

“What's the matter, Boo?” he asked. Behind Donald, Negaverses appeared. You and your team rushed to the danger, summoning your weapons.

“Negaverses!” Donald and Goofy said. 

“Why do these always have to ruin the moment?” Roxy asked. 

“‘Cause they’re bad guys and that’s what they do,” you said. Sulley and Mike hid Boo behind the lobby desk.

“Stay here. Kitty will be back,” Sulley said. Boo nodded and hid.

“Those guys are right, Sulley. This has got ‘bad news’ written all over it,” Mike said. 

“Yeah, we gotta keep Boo safe.” 

“I’m on it!” They ran back to you and your team in the fray, quickly disposing of the troublesome creatures. Sulley gave Mike a high-five.

“All right!” Sulley said. 

“Nice, Sulley. Even with those extra pounds you put on,” Mike said. 

“Heh, still runnin' circles around you, butterball.” Boo poke out from her hiding place.

“Kitty!” she said. Sulley shuffled over to Boo as you and your team kept vigilant.

“So, any idea who those guys were?” Mike asked. 

“Those are called Negaverses. They’re creatures that try and possess Spirits such as us,” you said. 

“Yeah. But they can also possess non-Spirits as well,” Yui said. 

“Uh-huh. A while back, the King fought a whole bunch of battles against 'em with the three missing Keyblade wielders,” Goofy said. 

“Wait, really?!” You and the girls asked. 

“Yeah, you didn’t know?” Vanitas asked. 

“Well, no one told us!” you said. Sulley and Mike exchanged glances and Mike shrugged.

“The same three that we're looking for? Aqua, Terra, and Ventus?” Sora asked. 

“Uh-huh. We need more dependable help than YOU!” Donald said. 

“Hey!” Vanitas noticed how you looked down and ruffled your hair.

“You doing okay?” he asked. 

“Yeah. I’m just worried about Aunt Aqua,” you said. 

“Wait, Aunt Aqua?” Roxy asked. 

“Not so much of an aunt, but more of a babysitter.” 

“I know that’s not all that’s bothering you. Is it...her?” Vanitas said. 

“Yeah.” 

“Who?!” Roxy and your friends asked. 

“I’ll tell you later.” 

“Still, how come the Negaverses are showin' up now?” Goofy asked.

“Is it because they use scream power?” Donald asked. 

“No. They must be after us. But then again, they can possess non-Spirits. So maybe they are using scream power,” Yui said. She looked over at Mike and Sulley and Mike stamped his foot.

“Hey, I told you we're through using that!” he said. Sulley nodded in agreement. “Besides, we have no idea who or what you're talking about.”

“Oh, you'd really like the King--” Sora said but you covered his mouth.

“Uh-oh!” Goofy said. 

“Order!” Donald and the twins said. You let go of Sora, who tried to rectify the suddenly awkward situation.

“Ummm...basically...we've come from far away to get rid of those creatures causing trouble. We're like...exterminators?” he said. You and your team nodded in agreement. 

“Just HOW far away?” Mike said. 

“As far as you can imagine,” Rumi said. Mike scratched his bald green head.

“Hmm... Okay, okay, let's just say we buy all that. Are those creeps dangerous?” he said.

“Extremely!” Donald said. 

“They sure gave Boo a scare,” Sulley said. Boo rubbed his fur and nodded. Mike turned to face Sulley.

“Sulley, I know you've missed her, but it's time to postpone our playdate,” he said. 

“You're right, Mikey. Let's get our girl home,” Sulley said. Mike nodded in agreement.

“What are you planning to do?” Vanitas asked. 

“It's kind of a long story...but Boo's from another world...and we gotta send her back there...to keep her safe,” Mike said. 

“Okay, then. We're gonna help you,” you said. 

“What?!” Boo reached for the floor and Sulley let her down.

“Well, obviously you can’t take down those Negaverses by yourself. If you did, you probably would get possessed by one,” Roxy said. 

“Yep. And they might try to cause more trouble, so, we wanna come along,” Sora said as he extended a hand.

“Great!” Mike said and shook his hand. “We could use a couple of exterminators around here!”

“Yeah, thanks!” Sulley said. Boo started running past the lobby and Sulley and Mike joined her, playfully roaring. Donald crossed his arms.

“You've always gotta help,” he said. 

“Hey, they need us. Besides, we need to figure out how all those Negaverses got here,” Sora said.

“I agree with Sora,” you said. 

~Le Time Skip b/c I’m Lazy AF~

“And that takes care of that!” Donald said. 

“Uh-huh,” Goofy said. You, Vanitas, Sora, and the girls gave a sheepish chuckle. Later, you all finally found Boo's door and jumped up to it, Mike and Sulley hanging from the rails.

“Okay, Boo. Time to go home. You must be tuckered out, but we'll play together real soon,” Sulley said. The rail buckled and began to slide the door along, with you and your team following on your own red door. You each gave your own excited shouts.

“What NOW?!” Mike asked. The doors arrived at the Laugh Floor, and you all jumped off as you all locked in your terminals. A hooded figure stepped toward them, sending you and your team on the defensive. The person took their hood off to reveal... 

“Mom!” Rumi said. 

“Gotta say, that strange facade had me fooled at first,” Elena said. 

“This is the part where you spout some mumbo jumbo and disappear, right?” Sora asked. Elena walked through one of the workstations.

“This whole world...was powered by scream. They converted the screams of human children into energy,” she said as she picked up one of the scream canisters. “And this very company was what made it all happen. It's as rich a source of negative emotion as we'll ever find.”

“For the last time, we already stopped doing that!” Mike said, angrily.

“Did you? Then how do you explain all these canisters of surplus scream?” Elena held up a canister. “This facility was everything I could hope for. And I was lucky enough to find a pawn whose heart was darkened by thoughts of revenge.”

“You mean Randall.” 

“All Randall ever cared about was winning. And this guy took advantage of that weakness,” Sulley said. 

“My heart is made of just one thing. And the Negaverses collected enough screams and sadness from those children to reconstruct it.”

“Yeah, and the whole time they were trashing our company in the process!” Mike said. Sulley held Mike back from rushing at Elene, but Mike struggled against the grip on his head.

“But, even with all this negative emotion, my heart is still incomplete. I need something else,” Elena said. She dropped the canister. It clanged to the ground before screaming off into the air.

“Whoa!” You and Sora said. Sulley dodged away, taking Mike and Boo with him. You all watched as the canister flew around the expansive room, bouncing off the walls until it ran out of scream and crashed to the floor. Mike and Sulley scowled as it rolled to Sora's feet.

“You know, I just realized something. The half of Vanitas that sleeps on...inside of your heart,” Elena said. Sora and Vanitas turned around and gasped as Elena held her bow and arrow just inches from them. Before she could attack, someone landed in between them.

“No...” Elena said. 

“Missed me?” the person asked. She stood up and you recognized her. 

“It’s her,” you said. 

Her outfit (but picture it black):

“I thought that you were trapped in the Realm of Darkness!” Elena said. 

“Yeah. Well, let’s just say I had a little help,” the woman said. 

“Grr, this isn’t over!” Elena then disappeared through a dark corridor. The woman sighed and turned around.

“Alright, which one of you is (Y/N) and Vanitas?” she asked. Sora and Roxy quickly pushed you and Vanitas towards her. 

“I thought so. Nice to finally meet you. The name’s Celina. I’m a Spirit. And also Xehanort’s daughter.” 

“Huh?!” you all asked.

To be continued...

[cowgirl-kunoichi]

Credit goes to LuckyLombaX for the bio template! EDIT: feel free to ask questions or ask for clarifications on things. Some stuff was purposely left out as I deemed it too dark for my general audience.

Nicknames: Cas, Amir

Title: Prince of Dyserth

Race: Sun Mouse/Markazian hybrid Gender: Male- FtM; considered himself 'male' by the time he was 3

Age: 24

Birthday: January 19th

Height: 5'1"

Weight: 123 lbs

Alignment: Lawful Good

Current Residence: Nasrin Palace, planet Dyserth, Lyris Dwarf Galaxy

Occupation: Heir to a throne; CEO of his coffee company, Stardust

Relationship status: Gunnar MacGraw (Current)

Sexual Orientation: Abiguously Queer

Parents/Caretakers: Leon Nasrin (Father); Genevieve Nasrin (Mother) Siblings: Ten elder siblings (deceased); Gormlaith "Faith" Nasrin (Twin sister;Alive)

Kids: Dmitri, Aelia, Jouri (Future)

-Appearance- Casimir is a slight man, with a lithe and graceful posture. He walks with purpose. He has large cupped, mobile ears, with pink tips and spotting down the back. He has pink eyelid spots and a very distinguishing beauty mark above his left lip. His eyelashes are dark and thick, making his gaze seem sharp and exacting. His fur is a dark ashy color with darker grey points, and pink stripes and elaborate patterns along his shoulders, back and legs. He has pitch black hair with a vibrant pink streak in front, his hair is smooth and sticks up at the ends. His tail is about as long as three-fourths of his body, it is covered is long/semi-long silky fur, patterned with several rings of pink down the length of it.

-Personality- Forgiving, Intelligent, Poised, Generous, Thoughtful Dry, Snobby, Guarded, Lonesome Casimir has a very stringent way of presenting himself in public, he works endlessly to maintain his composure and flawless looks, and has mastered making it look easy. He's a work-a-holic, when he's not visiting his store locations, he's in his lab. He's cutivated an extensive knowledge of botany, genetic splicing and chemistry, he's very proud of what he's accomplished in these fields. He can be very charming in conversation, often adding insightful tidbits and sparking more involved conversation. Even with this trait, he's often more likely to enjoy talking gossip with his lead manager. In truth, he dislikes rubbing elbows with other notable figures in society, partially because he silently believes himself better, and also because he finds their blatant grabs for public reputation boring and tedious. His motives are closely guarded to his chest. Even his closest friend, knows the barest minimum about him, and that's how he likes it. He keeps all his flaws and fears hidden deep under his perfect facade. He's very careful and deliberate with what he tells people. He simply doesn't slip. He also generally opts for impermanent, short-lived relationships, rather than having to try and unbox himself to someone who'd leave anyways. He's an excellent flirt but if, and only if the person appeals to him in a certain way; Looks, intelligence, vivacity... A combination that makes for a good temporary lover. -Bio- Born to a long line of Moon gene'd Sun Mice, Casimir and his sister were born into a emotionally and mentally suffocating environment. Cas, being the only one of the two with the 'proper' genetic make-up to rule, was cast into the role of Heir. The pressure to be superb was drilled into him from an early age, he was put into many lessons: Dance, combat, foreign languages, politics, formal and informal manners classes. This was easy enough for him to do and accomplish. What truly affected him was not his duties, but rather, his parents. His father, the ruling monarch, saw Casimir as only a continuation of the family legacy, and often called him the wrong name and pronouns. His mother was destitute and clingy, having been married to Leon at the age of 15. After birthing Casimir and his sister, Leon no longer put stock into maintaining any type of relationship with his queen. Geneveive often relies very heavily on Casimir for validation and her emotional and mental needs, and has since he's been able to speak. His sactuary was in books, he read endlessly in his family's castle. He was most interested in learning about botany, herbalism, entemology, and history. Though he grew to learn to keep his interests to himself, as his parents, mostly his father, would disregard what Cas was excited to share after learning something new. Growing up as a dignitary, Cas was forced to follow his father on his many political trips to the neighboring kingdoms. One kingdom was where he met his very first friend, at 14. Aulus Arte. Up until then Cas had never interacted with someone his own age, his sister distancing herself as far as she could from the stuffy responsibilities of being the child of a King, and most of his adult interactions were his father telling him of a legacy he had to uphold or otherwise be a failure, and his mother relentlessly needing him for her own comfort and ignoring his needs in favor of her own. Even then, Casimir was very guarded around Aulus, as he'd never experienced someone trying to get to know him. The trip lasted until the end of summer, and Casimir was almost weeping at the thought of leaving. It was the most open and inviting environment he'd ever been in. The King and Queen had opened their arms and hearts to him and fore the first time, he realized how bad his home was. After that, Casimir and Aulus kept in constant contact through letters for about 4 years, before Casimir became more focused on himself, and gaining some sort of autonomy and agency outside his parents grasp. And that was opening his own business, a place to sell something everyone on the go needed: Coffee. He came up with multitudes of formulas for different flavors that he made individually from scratch. The coffee, made from special beans from Dyserth, was a massive hit with the people of Meridian City and he was able to open several locations. At one point getting a street renamed after his store, Stardust. -Abilities/Powers- Casimir is skilled in many areas of combat. He's swift and agile and precision oriented. He has a magical NetherSteel rapier which is soulbound to him, and he can summon when the need arises. He has a sort of sixth sense, being able to know when someone is behind or coming up from behind him, or in any blind spots. He also always smells pleasant. -Strengths- Beyond that, he's extremely intelligent and task oriented, and can micromanage many things at once. At one point, he was able to separate two converged universes, and put every person in their correct universe in nearly the same place they exited. Intelligence and decorum are his greatest strength. His ability to assess and control a situation have lead to his victory consistently, big or small. He also can hold his own in combat, in many different situations. -Weaknesses- His family, despite their horrible treatment of him, he still needs them around. Even their micro-invalidations of him and his choices doesn't sway this. He also craves validation, and uses temporary relationships to try and fulfill this. Extra Loves New book smell, completing a major task, being pretty, gentle validations from friends, FRIENDSHIP Fears Losing his sense of purpose, Being useless in a situation, being judged as cruel, sabotage Hates His 'legacy', being talked down to, having to interact with other political figures, ROOT ROT TRIVIA - Cas is fairly close to the manager of his first and largest location of Stardust, Cayle. - Cas has some internalized hatred of "lesser races" thanks to his father. He does his best to undo that hatred. - His cousin (Vlad) is also a good friend, though they had not met until later in life. Cas dotes on him like a younger brother. - He met his current partner (Gunnar) through Cayle. They hit it off nearly instantly. - He has a terrible, raunchy, andpunbearable sense of humor. He will never NOT tell weed jokes. - Speaking of, in his spare time, as a hobby he also genetically engineers flavors of a plant called Pipeweed, and sells it for a fraction of what dispenseries do. - Cas has always wanted a pet, but never had the time to care for one. - He has a very good singing voice, thanks to all the pointless lessons his parents made him take when he was younger. - His sister, Faith, and he are estranged, and haven't seen each other in many years. Still, he sends her a card every birthday. He never gets anything back. - Cas is jealous of his cousin's close, and loving relationship with his husband. He doesn't let it show, but he longs for an effortless closeness like that. - He'd fuck the farmer if he asked.

[xtruss]

Researchers have found that virtual reality (VR) headsets can cause cybersickness, which manifests as dizziness and nausea akin to motion sickness. As engagement with digital devices from laptops to smartphones increases, some users are now reporting cybersickness outside a VR headset. ILLUSTRATION BY VICTOR DE SCHWANBERG, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Endless Scrolling Through Social Media Can Literally Make You Sick

Once mainly a scourge of VR headsets, cybersickness seems to be on the rise as the pandemic pushes our bodies to their digital limits.

— By Julia Sklar | MAY 17, 2021 | National Geographic

When a dark ashy cloud born from wildfires settled over the Seattle metropolitan area, Jack Riewe was among the millions of people suddenly trapped indoors. It was September 2020, and without access to the outdoors during a pandemic, it became even more difficult for the 27-year-old writer to see other people. He could only fill his days switching between working remotely on his computer, watching TV, or scrolling through endless fire updates on his phone.

“I was forced to stay inside in my hot apartment without any escape except the craziness happening on Twitter,” he says.

For a week he scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled, until he felt “weighed down, dizzy, [and] nauseous.” At the time, he attributed these symptoms to the air quality, or even wondered if he had contracted the coronavirus. The cause was something more insidious: the physical toll of living almost entirely in a virtual world.

The pandemic has forced most of us online at incomparable rates. It’s where we’ve worked, taken classes, attended parties, and gotten lost in 2020’s voracious news cycles. But our bodies were not designed to primarily exist in virtual space like this, and as our collective digital time creeps upward, something called cybersickness seems to be leaking into the general population.

Characterized by dizziness and nausea, cybersickness has mostly been studied in the context of aggressively submersive niche technologies, such as virtual reality headsets. In 2011, 30 to 80 percent of virtual reality users were likely to experience cybersickness, though improved headset hardware brought the range down to 25 to 60 percent by 2016.

Now, it seems the scrolling movement in a Netflix queue or a social media newsfeed also has the power to cause cybersickness when used under exceptional circumstances: all day, every day. (Also find out how video calls can tax the brain, leading to the phenomenon called Zoom fatigue.)

“Any kind of perceived motion is going to cause cybersickness,” says Kay Stanney, CEO and founder of Design Interactive, a small company researching human systems integration. “Virtual reality or augmented reality cybersickness is just a kind of a cousin to other forms of sickness related to perceived motion, and scrolling would be another form.”

What’s Old is New Again

Cybersickness is really just the latest neologism to describe the ongoing tussle between the human body and a world we continuously transform with technology. Cybersickness is space sickness is car sickness is sea sickness.

Reports of illness brought on by mismatched perception go back as far as 800 B.C., when the ancient Greeks wrote about a “plague at sea.” Despite their important role in trade, war, and migration, ships could be so intolerable for some passengers that nausea wasn’t merely a symptom of seasickness but the only word for it. The English word “nausea” actually comes from the Greek word for ship: naus.

By A.D. 300, the ancient Chinese began documenting nausea from all kinds of sources, with specific words to describe each distinct experience: Traveling in a cart inspired zhuche, or cart-influence, while a ship caused zhuchuan, or ship-influence.

As scientists now understand it, the key to all forms of motion sickness is your vestibular system: the combination of sensory organs in the inner ear and brain that controls balance and spatial orientation. If it perceives motion when your visual system doesn’t, the dissonance can make you hurl or, at the very least, feel dizzy and unsteady.

“The English word “nausea” actually comes from the Greek word for ship: naus.”

The 21st-century twist is that this is all flipped in virtual space. Rather than moving while perceiving being still—as you might feel on a boat, while looking at the immovable horizon—this time you’re still but perceiving motion. And that creates a similar conundrum for the body.

��Clinically there is absolutely no difference between the two conditions,” says Eugene Nalivaiko, an associate professor at the University of Newcastle in Australia who has studied both general motion sickness and cybersickness extensively “They have the same symptoms, same sensations, same everything.”

Time is Not on Your Side

Sarah Colley, a 30-year-old content marketer in Asheville, North Carolina, noticed the worst of her cybersickness symptoms in March 2021. Her screen time surged during a cumbersome work deadline, when for several days she spent 10 to 12 hours in a row on her computer. In addition to dizziness and nausea, she says that the screen itself appeared to jump around, making it difficult to focus, and a sense of anxiety settled over her.

“If I'm staring at the same screen, and it's not really moving, that doesn't bother me. But if things are scrolling, that's when it really becomes a problem,” she says. “Even when I close my eyes, I feel like I’m spinning.” After the incident in March, she had to take four days off from work to fully recalibrate—a luxury she couldn’t have afforded at a prior job that didn’t offer her benefits.

For Colley, the rise in remote living exacerbated mild cybersickness symptoms she had experienced periodically prior to the pandemic. But for most people it’s a totally new facet of spending more time online, so there isn’t much targeted research available yet. Most of our understanding has to be borrowed from virtual reality research.

One trigger for cybersickness seems to be the amount of time spent immersed in a digital world, which Stanney says tracks with her research into virtual reality headsets, as well as prisms, 3-D displays, and 2-D displays. Oddly, this rule may not hold true for augmented reality. The day before we spoke, Stanney had just finished sifting through data from a new study she’s leading that has not yet been published, and she uncovered a surprising pattern.

“Before this current study, I would have said an absolute definitive yes: The longer you're in the situation, the more perturbed you are. But augmented reality is acting differently than virtual reality: The longer you were in there, the better you felt, which is so strange,” she says. “I’m still trying to uncover exactly what that means.”

Typically, though, Stanney says time is not your friend in digital space. A few minutes of scrolling through Instagram, switching between open windows on a laptop, or visiting Netflix to watch one specific show might be benign, but when these activities drag on for hours, as they have under quasi-lockdowns, the persistent motion on the screen can make you queasy.

Stanney is also willing to bet that it’s not just increased screen time that’s causing the phenomenon with everyday devices. Before the pandemic, humans more regularly experienced motion in many directions, as we flew in airplanes and took regular rides in cars and subway trains. But for the last year, many people have really dialed it back: we walk, we stand, we sit, and we lie down.

That shift could be making some people less resilient to a type of digital motion they once tolerated without realizing it was actually a strain on their systems. “When we see this discord between visual movement and rest—where we are most of the time [now]—maybe it's a more profound discord,” Stanney says.

For instance, you may think you’re at peace lying in bed at night in the serene darkness, totally still but for a finger scrolling through Twitter. But Stanney says, “in fact, lying in bed could probably be one of the worst things to be doing.” Since it’s the most “chilled out” your vestibular system can possibly be, prolonged motion on a screen becomes extra difficult to reconcile.

One factor is a lack of what augmented reality research refers to as “rest frames,” the real walls or floors around you that act as stabilizing signals to the brain. Holding a phone inches from your face in the dark mimics the environmental conditions of virtual reality—when your rest frames are stripped away—and so may be similarly difficult to tolerate at length. Scientists don’t yet have empirical evidence that rest frames help users tolerate augmented reality for more time than virtual reality, but Stanney speculates that may be the case, and she recommends trying to tweak phone use accordingly.

“If the phone [were] a little further away, or if they were in a lit room, it might help to diminish some of those adverse events,” she advises.

If you can’t log off, Nalivaiko agrees that changing your field of view by holding your phone differently could help, as well as scrolling more slowly to take control of the frame rate, another nausea-inducing factor of digital motion. His research in animal models also suggests that staying cool can prevent motion sickness. For Riewe, being trapped in a hot apartment without respite may have spurred his peak symptoms.

“If you think about what people feel during motion sickness, it's sweating, it's feeling hot, it’s a desire to get to cool, open air,” Nalivaiko says.

Toxic Devices

While motion sickness and cybersickness are both incredibly well documented, what continues to stump researchers is why a disconnect between the vestibular and visual systems would provoke nausea in the first place.

“We have two aversive sensations: We have pain, and we have nausea,” says Nalivaiko. “Both are present when Mother Nature wants us not to repeat what we're doing, but what nausea is designed to prevent, we don’t know.”

Pain sends a straight forward message: Hate that feeling? Well then do not ever hold your hand over a flame again. But nausea is more gradual, nuanced, and unpredictable, especially when tied to an activity that doesn’t seem overtly dangerous, like going for a sail or scrolling through a smartphone.

The leading hypothesis is that it’s a misfire of a reflex that evolved to keep us safe from toxins. Alcohol, for example, when drunk too quickly or abundantly, can make a room seem like it’s spinning, even while you could swear your feet were firmly planted on the ground. Alcohol can also kill you. So the human body evolved to connect this dizzying effect with a threat, and to induce nausea to help purge the toxin and keep you alive.

Now, when we experience the same vestibular and visual mismatch brought on by non-threatening forces, like smartphones, our body thinks we’re in grave danger. It’s an apt metaphor for the emotional toxicity overdoing it online can ignite, and in the end, cybersickness may turn out to be as effective as warding off actual poison.

When Riewe did finally learn about cybersickness, “it was such an ‘aha moment,’” he says. “I immediately put my phone down and started reading my book. I went from needing to throw up to falling asleep happily."