“My stomach dropped”: Woman who wore Meta glasses on vacation realizes her mistake after looking through footage later

A TikToker is urging others to be more thoughtful about their usage of Meta glasses after she realized how uncomfortable she was making others while wearing them.

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Deena Lang (@itsdeenalang) wore her Meta glasses on vacation and used them to take pictures and videos of her activities. She noted that she didn’t disclose it to others, mentioning in a comment that she simply assumed people would understand what she was doing.

But upon looking through her husband’s vacation footage, she realized that she had “unintentionally made people super uncomfortable.”

The clips she shared to TikTok seemed to be a mix of things from her perspective and from her husband’s while they were attending a cooking class in France. Although Lang says pictures and videos were actually encouraged in the class, the more clandestine (and unannounced) usage of Meta glasses had people shooting her weird looks and whispering to one another whenever she began recording.

“When I saw this footage taken from [my husband’s] perspective my stomach dropped,” she admitted. “big sorry to everyone i made this cooking class less enjoyable for.”

@itsdeenalang meta glasses are SO cool… until they’re not i was just looking through the shared vacation folder my husband and i have and when i saw this footage taken from his perspective my stomach dropped. he was recording me as a joke because I’m admittedly the world’s worst cook and I’m SUPER awkward in the kitchen big sorry to everyone i made this cooking class less enjoyable for i keep seeing stories about people wearing these in super inappropriate places / settings – doctors offices, waxing centers and whatnot… technology is only awesome when it’s in the right hands and in this instance it wasn’t lesson learned. I’ll be wearing them responsibly and getting permission before recording in public places from now on #raybanmeta #metaglasses #contentcreators #creatorsoftiktok #fyp ♬ Brain Stew Know Good Flip – Know Good

What are Meta glasses?

Meta glasses are the latest attempt at wearable smart tech. They’re glasses that have a built-in camera, microphones, and speakers. The latest iteration includes Meta AI that allows wearers to ask questions or give voice-activated commands.

They’ve been controversial for a few obvious reasons. One is that people are already uncomfortable with a world where it seems we’re all being recorded at any given moment in public anyway, whether through security cameras or people who just can’t stop making content about every little thing.

In fact, just this week, the University of San Francisco issued a warning to students about a man roaming campus and approaching women with “unwanted comments and inappropriate dating questions” while quietly recording them with Meta glasses to post online.

Backlash to Meta glasses

On top of intentional, discrete recording, there are also privacy concerns related to Meta itself.

“Respectfully, we know Meta does not value privacy. So…when you wear those glasses, you should assume they’re *always* recording *everything* even when you don’t turn them on,” one commenter wrote on Lang’s TikTok.

Others echoed that sentiment, while some looped back to the exhaustion over the way society has rapidly normalized recording absolutely everything and the way that is bound to be a detriment to privacy and safety.

“I stopped wearing them because I just think while some people think they’re cool, other people might be uncomfortable with them,” another self-identified Meta glasses owner wrote.

“Why does everything need to be recorded?” asked @stormsvrge_. “Why are you so desperate to seem cool and cutting edge that you’d voluntarily buy a surveillance device and strap it to your face? Did it not occur to you that that MIGHT be a bad idea??”

Lang responded that she primarily intended to use them for translation outside of the country and for “hands-off recording my family while we travel,” which she suggests is beneficial for being a full-time content creator.”

But, she notes, that involves using them responsibly—which may be too big of an ask.

“I live in a state where only one parti is required to be notified of recording devices. myself can be that party and normally is,” another viewer insisted. “I have no legal reason to inform you of anything and you have no expectations of privacy in something available to the public.”

“we have literally become the society that was feared. everything is recorded, conversations, intimate moments, serious moments, etc,” @pacific_sunset_love protested. “i can see people using these glasses for all the vile reasons. morals and standards are no longer existent. life is fueled by technology and popularity for greed.”