Is Virtual Reality Safe For Kids?

It turns out that INCEPTION is possible in real-life.

I did some research to determine if virtual reality was dangerous for children, stumbling into the fascinating world of Interpupillary Distance and implanting false memories into your children. Move over Christopher Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio..

Futher Reading:

Martin Banks, Near-Work, Visually Induced Motion Sickness: http://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/is-vr-safe-for-kids-we-asked-the-experts/

Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab Study: https://vhil.stanford.edu/pubs/2009/virtually-true-childrens-acquisition-of-false-memories-in-virtual-reality/

Increase In Nearsightness: https://www.aao.org/newsroom/news-releases/detail/increased-nearsightedness-linked-to-years-in-schoo#_edn1

Interpupillary Distance and VR Headsets in Children: https://www.reddit.com/r/GearVR/comments/2q3gz2/is_gear_vr_safe_for_children/
Christmas morning and you've just unboxed a brand new Samsung VR Oculus device. You want to let your children experience VR for the first time, but the VR headsets come with an age warning that they are not intended for children under the age of 12.

I looked into the issue and found there are three categories of problems that can arise related to kids using VR devices: physical problems, content problems, and emotional/psychological problems.

The first thing we all want to know is virtual reality bad for your eyes? While The American Academy of Ophthalmology has found an overall increase in nearsightedness (myopia) likely due to increased near-work like computer and smartphone use, the visual stimulus used in stereoscopic devices relies on tricking your brain and eyes in a way that is different than reading a book up close. While indeed your eyes are focused up-close inside a VR headset (called accommodation), your pupils are actually converging further off in the distance which is different than how your eyes normally work, hence the illusion. This is called the vergence-accommodation conflict which is also what causes nausea or headaches while using VR.

Children using a VR headset is actually less damaging to the eyes than using a computer or smartphone, so long as sessions are kept short to prevent eye fatigue. VR can even be used to identify common eye problems in children like lazy-eye. However, most VR headsets are sized for adults which means the lenses are approximately 63mm apart based on the average adult Interpupillary Distance (distance between your eyes). Children's IPD can be much smaller, causing the lenses to not align properly with the eyes and making the image blurry or distorted. You can either buy a child sized VR headset, or limit session time to work around this problem.

Content shown on the VR device is also a concern for children. Horror and scary content should obviously be avoided, however even thrill rides and rollercoasters may seem hyper-real to children. During the production of the animated short VR film "Invasion", the filmmakers tested a version where the animated protagonist bunny dies; they found that viewers (even adults) were overly emotional about this event, likely due to the immersive nature of the medium. The Jurassic World Apatosaurus VR Experience app comes to mind because due to its heightened realism, and may be too intense for young viewers.

Instead I'd suggest showing children content from the Discovery VR app, which allows them to travel to far off places but offers an otherwise mundane experience.

The most interesting part of all this research was the discovery of the Stanford University Virtual Human Interaction Lab, which performed a 2009 study that found elementary aged children susceptible to false memories wherein they believed their experiences in virtual reality actually happened in real life. False memories have recently been in the news when countless people vividly remembered Sinbad appearing in the movie "Shazam"..a movie which does not exist. All this led me to immediately think of INCEPTION, wherein the main plot centers around the concept of implanting thoughts in someone else's mind.

Is it possible to place false memories in your children's minds? And if so - ethical considerations aside - what might you implant?

All that to say, VR is safe for children to use in short sessions. Content should be carefully chosen for younger children, and parents may want to opt for Google Cardboard instead which offers a less immersive experience for kids. I'd also recommend parents not allow children to wear headphones when using VR as this leads to a more intense experience.

P.S. - Smoking in your car with children is still legal in 40 states. What???

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