Remember Google Glass? The camera-equipped glasses that made you look like a cyborg and got you kicked out of bars? Meta's Ray-Ban Stories are heading down the same path, and we're about to relive the entire "Glasshole" saga.
The term "Glasshole," coined in 2013, described people who wore Google Glass in public and made everyone around them uncomfortable. The glasses had a camera, but no obvious indicator that you were recording. Bars, movie theaters, and gyms banned them. Google eventually killed the product, and for a decade, smart glasses were a punchline.
Then Meta decided to try again. The Ray-Ban Stories, launched in 2021 and updated in 2024, are smart glasses that look almost normal. They have cameras, speakers, and AI features powered by Meta AI. You can take photos, record videos, and ask the AI to identify objects or translate text. The tech works. The social dynamics don't.
The problem is the same problem Google had: you can't tell when someone is recording you. The Ray-Ban Stories have a small LED that lights up when the camera is active, but it's tiny and easily covered with a finger. If someone is recording you in a coffee shop, on the subway, or at a party, you won't know.
Meta anticipated this and added a "privacy shutter" you can physically close over the camera. But it's optional, and almost nobody uses it. The whole point of smart glasses is convenience. If you have to manually open and close a shutter, you might as well use your phone.
The result is predictable: people are getting uncomfortable. Reddit is full of posts asking "Is it rude to wear Ray-Ban Stories indoors?" and "My friend wears smart glasses and it creeps me out." Some bars are preemptively banning them. The theater chain updated its policies to prohibit smart glasses along with phones.
