Why do glasses need to be worn to see in a VR headset, but don’t need to be worn to see any other screen being held close to the face? (shortsighted)

Question

Why do glasses need to be worn to see in a VR headset, but don’t need to be worn to see any other screen being held close to the face? (shortsighted)

In: Physics

Answer 1

Field of view. A screen by itself is a flat object, but your vision wraps around a little bit. I believe the total angle of visible objects in human field of view is about 130 degrees, whereas a screen projects only 90 degrees. The lenses in a VR headset are convex, which projects the screen further out than it would normally be, angle wise, giving a wraparound view. This is why VR video typically has a sort of fish eye lens look to it – that flattens out during the lens transformation.