Broadly speaking, the metaverse can be  defined as a virtual world where we can live,  

work, travel and play.

But it doesn't actually exist yet, and just like Gaudi's cathedral, the Sagrada  Familia, it may take a while to complete.

But that hasn't stopped businesses of all shapes  

and sizes from trying to get involved.

J.P. Morgan, HSBC, Gucci and Coca-Cola

are among a few of the firms that have  dabbled with the metaverse so far.

And of course, there's Meta, the  company formerly known as Facebook.

While the metaverse is still  mostly science fiction at this stage,  

there are some early versions of it out there  that give us a taste of what might be possible.

Here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, many of them are on display. Let's take a look.  

Many in the tech industry claim that the  metaverse is the next phase of the internet.

Companies like Meta are hailing it  as this sort of utopia that will make  

the time we spend online more interactive and fun.

They also say it will present businesses  with new ways to make money. A lot of money.

One report estimates that the metaverse economy  could be worth between $8 and 13 trillion by 2030,  

but getting there is going to  require significant investment.

The metaverse, we think, is something that has already been with us.

It's in essence, the digital world, with  things like our smartphones, the web, gaming.

We've always been in the metaverse.

It's not something that's going to turn on in a single day.  

We're looking at how to make  those things more immersive,  

how to make those things more accessible.

How do we make those things better for humanity,  and how do we make those things safer as well?

Alongside the hype have been a whole host of  concerns, ranging from child safety to scams,  

which is why regulators will no doubt be  keeping an eye on how the technology progresses.

But the companies here in Barcelona have  placed their bets on the metaverse's promise,  

with a wide range of demos on display.

From SK Telecom's “4D Metaverse” ride

to an augmented reality demo from Qualcomm  that allowed you to swat virtual insects.

It was actually kind of fun.

One tech firm called Unity is trying to put  sports fans in the middle of the action.

But what else is their  software being used to create?

Sometimes it can be like an amazing magical  fantasy world where people ride unicorns  

and are dancing on the moon or it can be  something really ordinary like you want a 3D  

representation of what a new building is going to look like.

What we'll see is all of these different companies will be  creating their own subsets of that in the same way  

that the internet is the internet, but there are  many, many different websites for you to go to.

But are these demonstrations just gimmicks,  or are they a sign of things to come?

The challenge with the  metaverse is it's a very nebulous term.

So, we've got Mark Zuckerberg's Meta  vision of almost like an arcade game  

that you insert yourself into and then  we've got the more grounded version of  

virtual and augmented reality, which might  augment your life in a very simple way.

No company has been more active and more  vocal about the metaverse than Facebook,  

which changed its name to Meta at the end  of 2021 to reflect its “all in” attitude.

We're at the beginning of a long  journey. Meta had to do something  

that was a statement to grab people's attention.

And if you look at the huge amounts  of money that they're investing,  

they had to justify that investment.

My personal belief is we've already  had an interesting step in the right  

direction with the pandemic because we're  starting to live more blended lives.

We're working from home. We're  coming back to the office.

Some of that will continue to exist and  there will be elements of that that will lend  

themselves to a metaverse-like experience.

Tech companies are pumping billions of dollars into developing hardware

that has the potential to act as a gateway to these metaverses.

Facebook bought virtual reality firm Oculus back  in 2014 and the company's latest VR headset is the  

Quest 2, which competes with the HTC Vive Pro,  and, to some degree, Microsoft's HoloLens 2.

At $299, the Quest 2 is a moderately priced  headset that may offer a glimpse of the future.

If you don't mind looking like a  bit of a numpty, you can play some  

highly interactive games on it and explore worlds that you wouldn't otherwise be able to.

While the headsets are being enjoyed by many,  

there have been early hiccups  with some applications.

VRChat, an app that allows you to  create an avatar and explore virtual  

worlds with other people online, is full  of people hurling abuse at one another.

VRChat was not available for  comment when contacted by CNBC.

There are a number of computer games  and web-based platforms that offer  

an insight into what the metaverse is all about.

Think of Roblox and Minecraft. These  are all virtual worlds where you can  

interact with other players.

Decentraland is another desktop-based virtual  world that users can create, explore and trade in.

The platform's users effectively  

“own” Decentraland as they're  the ones that have built it.

On Decentraland, people can buy and sell  land, estates, and wearables for their avatar.

In the last year there's been a huge  amount of momentum and progress.

If you look at the signals out there, we're seeing  

significant amounts of money  being invested by venture capital.

I think we're seeing devices like the Quest at  

very attractive price points that  enables them to become mainstream.

So VR is now attainable and accessible to people.

And we're beginning to see the  developer community build out  

experiences and gaming really go mainstream.

But is this something that people actually want?

I remain to be convinced that I'm going to be  

putting on a headset at the beginning of the  day and sitting in the metaverse all day.

It will be something that you perhaps snack on,  

use for certain applications. Use at  certain points when it's appropriate.

When we think about time  spent online and screen time  

average U.K. and U.S. adults are  spending more than 12 hours a day.

So it's more than half of every day on a screen.

And that's been accelerated by Covid and  how we've all lived over the last 12 months.

So I think that's set the scene for the  type of technology that we're going to see.