What people say and what they do are two completely different things. In my view, a significant number of people will accept and use such a device, even if there is significant social pressure against it.

As a precedent, I look at video games. Initially there was very significant social pressure against video games. Indeed, social pressures in the US are still quite anti-video game. Yet, today video games are a larger industry than movies. Who is to say that this hypothetical virtual reality machine won't turn out the same way?