I was just discussing with my wife how noticeable it is that we loathe calling people except for a select few individuals. It is widely recognized younger generations prefer to text. However if their friends could have a visible presence next to them, I think there's something to be said for experiencing something and having that person "next to" you, even if virtually.
A recent A16Z podcast touched on this with telepresence/VR at a basketball game, and how even just having a basic VR representation of someone you were watching with seated next to you helped dramatically to improve immersion.
International tourism is available to only a very small percentage of the world's population. VR could be an interesting substitute that gives a travel-like experience to millions/billions of people.
I fully believe a photorealistic experience can be had, and I fully believe that that experience will be able to exist at a reasonable price point, but I don't believe normal people will be interested in such an experience.
As a medium, it's not nice to use with other people, which is a huge part of the way we consume our media. I don't believe that normal people are going to ever socialize by looking at each others avatars. If you consider interacting with someone's avatar socializing, you should understand that is why people make jokes at the expense of World of Warcraft players. Once the novelty wears off, people aren't going to find it interesting.
It's not great for text either, and I don't think it will ever be better than a 4k monitor for text... Always bet on text. http://graydon2.dreamwidth.org/193447.html
I agree that AR could be huge. But VR gets way too much hype.