by Caitlin Krause
At XR Women’s six-year anniversary gathering, Caitlin Krause and Cortney Harding led the community in a featured fireside conversation titled “How are expectations changing around: Attention, Trust, Agency, Creativity, Human Connection?” The discussion explored how emerging technologies are reshaping not only what people can do, but what they increasingly expect from the immersive tech-enabled systems entering everyday life.
The format itself reflected those questions and values. The session was recorded internally for archival purposes, but deliberately not livestreamed or publicly broadcast in real time. As Krause explained, public recording "changes the dynamic nature of a conversation,” noting that people may subtly change their answers when they feel everything is “being scribed, everything’s being projected and sourced in the future.” The intention was to create greater room for trust, candor, live-time experimentation, and genuine exchange. Many community members expressed their appreciation for that intentionality, and for the depth of the conversation as a result.
Krause approached the discussion through attention, human agency, adaptation, and discernment. As AI and immersive technologies increasingly function as extensions of human intention, she asked how people can remain open to possibility without surrendering critical judgment. “I want to be critical in my thinking and not fall prey to being cynical,” she said, framing optimism and agency as compatible with rigorous questioning.
She also emphasized the importance of choice as XR digital layers become more ambient and possibly noisy and distracting. Her concern is about our agency, sovereignty, and imagination, using technology design applied to smart glasses and spatial computing to support intentional participation rather than simply adding more demands on attention.
Harding brought a complementary focus on the social realities of emerging interfaces. Rejecting a future of constant overlays and cognitive overload, she argued that "humans can benefit from simplicity in design that works well to fit its purpose."
In these ways, Krause and Harding agreed that AI could help make information more meaningfully contextual rather than simply more abundant. Done well, technology could create more room to engage with what we care about as humans rather than continually pulling our attention toward a device. There's more to be done, and we need to voice our priorities as communities of practice that have social and structural support.
The XR Women community brought these questions into lived practice through reflections on collaboration, creator value, sustainable work, diverse perspectives, and shared learning. What emerged was not a fixed answer about XR’s future, but a stronger set of criteria for examining it: What deserves attention? What earns trust? What protects agency? What expands creativity? And what genuinely strengthens human connection?
This brief event recap was written by Caitlin Krause in reflection and gratitude, November 9, 2026 - part 2 of a personal reflection forthcoming!