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Report Outlines Potential Risks With Use Of VR By Kids
Apr 3, 2018 | Upload VR
By Ian Hamilton
A new report from Stanford researcher Jeremy Bailenson in partnership with Common Sense Media outlines what parents need to be thinking about if their children are interested in trying VR. -
A new report by Stanford researchers and Common Sense Media examines the potential effect of virtual reality on children
Apr 4, 2018 | Stanford News
By Melissa De Witte
As virtual reality rapidly expands into American households, it is critical that parents and educators be informed about its potential effect on kids, say Stanford scholars in a new report. -
Your kids and virtual reality: What parents should know
Apr 4, 2018 | The Mercury News (CA)
By Karen D'Souza
As virtual reality games and devices find their way into more and more American living rooms, parents are struggling with what role the relatively new technology should have in their children’s lives. -
Virtual Reality and Children: 'We Just Don't Know That Much,' Report Finds
Apr 4, 2018 | Education Week
By Benjamin Herald
Despite limited research into its impact on children's development, virtual reality is getting a big push from industry leaders, leaving parents of two minds about the emerging technology. -
Virtual Reality and Children
Apr 4, 2018 | Clipper28.com
By Beena
Impact on children’s development, virtual reality is getting a big push from industry leaders, leaving parents of two minds about the emerging technology. -
Common Sense Looks Into VR
Apr 4, 2018 | Broadcastingcable.com
By John Eggerton
Common Sense Media has drilled down on the impact of VR on kids and finds a dual vision of possible pro-social uses and drawbacks from immersion in another world. -
Common Sense checks parental temperature on VR for kids
Apr 4, 2018 | KidScreen
By Jeremy Dickson
As virtual reality struggles to reach mass adoption, new US research from non-profit org Common Sense Media takes a closer look at parents’ attitudes about VR for kids, and answers questions parents and teachers have about the emerging technology and its potential impact on children. -
VR's long-term effects unknown. Your kids are the guinea pigs
Apr 4, 2018 | CNET
By Abrar Al-Heeti
We know almost nothing about the long-term effects of virtual reality on kids, and that's got some parents worried.
Traditional Media Coverage
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Report Outlines Potential Risks With Use Of VR By Kids
Apr 3, 2018 | Upload VR
By Ian Hamilton
A new report from Stanford researcher Jeremy Bailenson in partnership with Common Sense Media outlines what parents need to be thinking about if their children are interested in trying VR.
Common Sense Media operates a site with reviews that help parents gauge if a movie or game is appropriate for their child. In a foreword to the report, Common Sense founder and CEO James P. Steyer wrote that they’d begin reviewing VR games too.
Bailenson is the founding director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford and he recently released a book, Experience on Demand, covering potential uses for VR and outlining some of the unknowns. One of those unknowns is the long-term effects of VR on children. The new report offers helpful guidelines for parents to think about VR usage, while also providing ample references if you want to dive deeper. The report is quick to point out, however, that “when it comes to VR and kids, we just don’t know all that much.”
Among the “key findings”:Virtual reality is likely to have powerful effects on children because it can provoke a response to virtual experiences similar to a response to actual experiences.The long-term effects of children’s use of immersive VR on their still-developing brains and health are unknown, but most parents are concerned, and experts advocate moderation and supervision.Only one in five U.S. parents (21 percent) today report living in a household with VR, and the majority (65 percent) are not planning to purchase VR hardware. However, the interest levels of U.S. children are high, while parent interest is mixed.Characters in VR may be especially influential on young children, even more so than characters on TV or computers. This can be good or bad depending on the influence.Students often feel more enthusiasm for learning while using VR, but they do not necessarily learn more through VR than through video or computer games.VR can potentially be an effective tool for encouraging empathy among children, though most parents are skeptical.When choosing VR content, parents should consider whether they would want their children to have the same experience in the real world.
One section of the report covers the suggested age guidelines outlined by various companies, which range from 7 to 12 or 13 years old. “However, there is no clinical rational for this age.” According to the report, “more than seven in 10 parents of 8- to 17-year-olds who use VR say that it is appropriate for children under 13 to use VR.”
One section can help parents think about how VR might affect children of different ages, including “whether children can distinguish between actual and virtual experiences.” The document cites research showing that by age 5 “children can understand the difference between reality and fantasy on television.” It also suggests there is a “shift in perception” typically between the ages of 5 and 7, and that “children younger than 7 could face challenges discerning when virtual events are not real.”
“One study showed that 5-year-old children followed the advice of a virtual character shown on a television screen as frequently as that of a live person, but 7- and 9-year-old children followed the advice of a live person more often than that of a virtual character.”
The report also states “much of what we can predict about the negative effects is conjecture, based largely on previous research with traditional media.”
Bailenson recently authored a piece for CNN warning about the potential risk of using VR to train for a mass shooting, and the Common Sense report states, “More than three decades of research suggest that violent video gameplay is a risk factor for stimulating aggressive behavior.”
“To the extent that violent video games increase hostile tendencies and arousal, we should expect even stronger effects from VR.”
The report also covers the benefits of VR for things like education and pain management, and closes with a helpful guideline for people to think about: “would this be something you would do in real life or would want your child to do in real life?”
If the answer is no, avoid that content, the report concludes. The full report can be downloaded with a free account sign up here.
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Apr 4, 2018 | Stanford News
By Melissa De Witte
As virtual reality rapidly expands into American households, it is critical that parents and educators be informed about its potential effect on kids, say Stanford scholars in a new report.
Published April 4 in collaboration with Common Sense Media, Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR, is a resource to better understand how this new technology can be applied to everyday life and learning.
Also known as “VR,” virtual reality is drastically changing the way people can experience the world.
“Compared to other media, VR is an extremely powerful way to deliver information,” said Jeremy Bailenson, a communication professor at Stanford and co-author of the report who founded Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab in 2003. “VR is arguably the most powerful medium in history and research about its effect on children is only just emerging.”
Jim Steyer, AB ’78, JD ’83, founder of Common Sense Media, agreed with Baillenson, writing in the report, “Because VR is in its infancy, we have a unique opportunity to stay on top of this technological wave before it overwhelms us.” Common Sense Media is an independent nonprofit organization that helps parents make smart choices about media and technology for their children. Steyer is also an adjunct professor of comparative studies in race and ethnicity at Stanford.Parents attitudes about VR
Included in the report are the results of a survey of 3,613 parents about their attitudes toward virtual reality.
“Until this survey, it was unclear how, and even how many, kids were using virtual reality,” said Bailenson. “Now we have an initial picture of its adoption and use.”
Some key findings from the survey:While the long-term effects of VR on children’s health and brain development are unclear, 60 percent of parents are at least somewhat concerned about negative health effects.Many parents believe VR holds an educational promise. Sixty-two percent of parents believe that VR will provide educational experiences for their children.However, only 22 percent reported their child used VR for learning. An overwhelming 76 percent of children who have used VR played games.VR has the potential to be an effective tool to encourage empathy among children, but most parents are skeptical. Sixty-two percent of parents don’t expect children to empathize with others while using VR.Emerging technology, emerging research
Research coming out of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab – home to several studies that have explored the effect of virtual reality on children – led to some of the report’s conclusions about the potential power of VR.
“One of the characteristics that really distinguishes VR from other media is that it’s perceptually surrounding, so no matter where you turn there is content,” said Bailenson, who has been studying virtual reality for almost 20 years. “VR responds to your body. If you want to get closer to an object you can actually walk; if you want to touch something you can reach out and get haptic feedback.”
In many ways, virtual reality mimics actual life, Bailenson said.
Overall, his findings have shown that the heightened reality of virtual reality can have an outsize influence on children.
In a 2009 study, Bailenson found that when elementary-age school children saw themselves swimming with orca whales in a virtual environment, many later believed the fantastical experience happened in real life. This research was done with Kathryn Segovia, then a PhD student working in the lab (she now heads learning and design at Stanford’s d.school).
Building off that research is a 2017 study Bailenson conducted with Jakki Bailey that found that media characters in virtual reality may be more influential over young children than characters on TV or computers.
Conducted in partnership with the Sesame Workshop, an educational organization that researches how children respond to media, Bailenson and Bailey set up an interactive and immersive VR environment with the popular Sesame Street character Grover.
Kids in the study age 4-6 got to play common kids’ games with Grover – including activities like Simon Says and sticker sharing. The scholars found that when children were engaged with the VR version of Grover versus a version on a two-dimensional screen, they were more likely to treat him as a friend.
“We found that kids can develop more trust in media characters in the virtual environment,” said Bailey, a recent graduate from Stanford’s PhD program in communication and now an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
This influence can be a force for positive change, said Bailey, noting that when there is trust, children are more likely to turn to that source for information and learning.Using VR for better
Bailenson suggests that VR could become a valuable learning tool, and parents seem to agree. According to the report, 62 percent of parents believe that VR can offer educational experiences for their children.
“There is a misconception that VR is just being used for games. There’s been some traction in video games but not at the magnitude that people expected,” Bailenson said about the existing trends in adoption with adults.
“With VR it’s the more useful applications – training, learning, communication – that are really gaining some traction,” he said. His lab is exploring how VR experience can increase empathy, overcome prejudice and confront unconscious biases like ageism.
Because virtual reality can resemble an actual experience, it could help children translate skills learned in educational environments to the physical world.
As virtual reality becomes part of everyday life, Bailenson recommends that people take precautions. In the survey, 11 percent of parents reported their 8- to 17-year-olds experienced dizziness, 10 percent experienced a headache and 13 percent bumped into something.
He advises that VR be closely supervised and in moderation: 5- to 10-minute increments are recommended for young kids and 20 minutes for older children and young adults.
Study co-authors include researchers from the University of Arizona and Common Sense Media. Bailenson is the Thomas More Storke Professor of Communication, a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and professor, by courtesy, of education.
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Your kids and virtual reality: What parents should know
Apr 4, 2018 | The Mercury News (CA)
By Karen D'Souza
As virtual reality games and devices find their way into more and more American living rooms, parents are struggling with what role the relatively new technology should have in their children’s lives.
A whopping 60 percent of parents are worried about the VR’s health effects, according to a new study from Common Sense Media, while others hope the emerging technology will have profound educational benefits because of its highly-engaging nature.
“It is critical for parents and educators to be aware of VR’s powerful effects, as we still don’t know enough about how this highly immersive medium affects the developing brain,” says Jim Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media, which released the study Wednesday. “We also know that, based on early research on the impact of VR on children’s health, there is a need for caution when it comes to its use by young children.”
Stanford researchers partnered with Common Sense Media, which has done extensive research on children’s media use, to examine the impact of VR on children. Their report includes a national survey of 12,148 adults, 3,613 of whom were parents.
VR is likely to have a powerful effect on young children, who may have a hard time telling VR fantasies from reality, the report found. But that vividness is also one of the reasons VR can be used as an effective teaching tool, says Stanford professor Jeremy Bailenson, one of the authors of the report.
“We know people learn from it,” he says. “It’s a very compelling medium.”
Gretchen Walker, vice president of learning at San Jose’s Tech Museum, which has many virtual reality exhibits, believes the technology can help children experiment.
“With VR you can give someone a full body experience,” she says. “You can let kids design an environment and then have them walk through a 3-D model of it. That’s a powerful tool for envisioning.”
Caden Stark, 14, was beyond thrilled with his experience in a two-minute flight simulator at the Tech called “Birdly” where he got to flap his arms and soar over New York City.
“It was totally a blast. VR lets you do things that humans can’t really do,” said the middle schooler from Scotts Valley. “If I could have a super power, I’d want to fly.”
But many parents are wary. While the study notes that 21 percent of households with children already have a VR device and 13 percent are planning to get one, Common Sense found that many parents are scared of exposing their children to such intense experiences.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting the kids play with it. It seems unnecessary to expose them to something likely harmful to their brains just for some entertainment,” says Bethany Cardwell, a mother of two little girls who lives in Discovery Bay. “The warnings are about nausea, dizziness, blackouts. It’s clearly not good for the brain, especially one that’s developing.”
Bailenson, founder of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, acknowledged the long term effects of VR on developing brains remain unknown. But short term impacts can include dizziness, headache and eye strain.
“We wanted to help parents understand what this thing is and what the safety rules are,” he says, noting that he has two children 6 and 4, who have used VR in a very limited manner. He has also brought VR into classrooms and used it to train athletes.
Time limits are crucial for children, he said, but even adults need to take breaks to avoid sensory overload. Five minutes can be an eternity in VR and its simulations can be much scarier for children than tradiional video games. Parents should also make sure children are in a safe space, free from pets, walls and sharp edges. Baileson recommends having a spotter in the room to avoid accidents.
While 62 percent of parents surveyed believe that VR can provide educational experiences, only 22 percent reported their child actually used VR for learning. The vast majority play games.
VR also has the potential to encourage empathy among small children, experts say, because it builds bonds with virtual characters and settings, though parents surveyed by Common Sense remain skeptical.
VR has become part of a larger debate over how much parents should limit screen time. Common Sense has reported that teenagers spend seven hours a day in front of screens, while kids under 8 get about two hours.
Walker, however, suggests that children who grow up in a tech-heavy culture like the Bay Area may not be as vulnerable to its thrall. Her own daughter Sydney, 8, begged to watch some of the Olympics in VR. At first she thought it was “cool and fun” but she eventually got bored and went back to the flat-screen experience.
“Honestly I’m more worried about the adults than the kids,” she says. “Children will always choose to play with other children over screens but adults are obsessed with technology.”
That’s just how Valeria Tellez feels. The 17-year-old took part in a virtual design lab at the Tech in which she crafted an amusement park that included a “chill” room for kids with disabilities, but she remains unimpressed by the power of VR.
“I don’t really like technology,” says the high school student from Ceres. “I think we all need to disconnect from tech and socialize with other people in the real world.”
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Virtual Reality and Children: 'We Just Don't Know That Much,' Report Finds
Apr 4, 2018 | Education Week
By Benjamin Herald
Despite limited research into its impact on children's development, virtual reality is getting a big push from industry leaders, leaving parents of two minds about the emerging technology.
According to a new report from the nonprofit group Common Sense Media, a full 62 percent of parents believe VR will provide educational experiences for their children. But 60 percent of those same parents are at least "somewhat concerned" about negative health effects, the group found.
"The truth is, when it comes to VR and kids, we just don't know that much," wrote Jeremy Bailenson, the director of Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab and a co-author of the report, titled Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR.
As a result, Bailenson wrote, "for children, moderation should prevail."
The report includes a review of existing research into virtual reality's effects on children, as well as the results of an original online survey of more than 12,000 adults, conducted in December 2017.
Among the key survey findings: 21 percent of parents reported owning a virtual-reality device.13 percent said they planned to buy a VR device in the next year.Just 43 percent of parents said virtual reality is appropriate for children under 13.Among parents with a child aged 8-17 who has used VR, the most common uses were playing games (76 percent), watching videos (38 percent), and exploring environments (33 percent.)The biggest concerns parents reported about virtual reality was that children would be exposed to sexual or violent content.The biggest barrier to VR adoption among parents was a lack of interest.
To help families and educators make sense of this emerging technology, Common Sense Media will begin reviewing new VR content through its online ratings-and-reviews platform, founder James Steyer said in an introductory letter in the report.Virtual Reality a Double-Edged Sword?
As virtual-reality technology has advanced and hardware prices have plunged, there's been renewed attention to VR and its potential applications, including in education. Among the biggest: virtual field trips, promoting empathy, and some research suggesting it can be a useful tool for helping students with learning about things like fractions and photosynthesis.
But the biggest selling point for VR—that it can make experiences feel more real, because it is so immersive—is also at the root of many of the concerns about how the technology might impact users, especially young children.
Among the developmental concerns that researchers have raised: whether younger children can distinguish physical from virtual reality, VR's impact on children's impulse control and aggression, and children's apparent tendency to treat time spent in virtual reality more like an actual experience than like a media experience, such as watching television.
There are also practical concerns: the development of high-quality educational content for VR systems has lagged well behind the development of new hardware, and most experts recommend that young children use VR for no more than a few minutes at a stretch.
Summing up some of the limited research to date on virtual reality's effects on young children, Bailenson of Stanford wrote that there are promising signs, but also plenty of reasons to be cautious.
"Nobody got sick, nobody got hurt, and to date no parents have reported any ill effects," Bailenson wrote. "But the kids were meeting Grover from Sesame Street, and they were supervised in VR sessions that lasted only about five minutes."
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Apr 4, 2018 | Clipper28.com
By Beena
Impact on children’s development, virtual reality is getting a big push from industry leaders, leaving parents of two minds about the emerging technology.
According to a new report from the nonprofit group Media, a full 62 percent of parents believe VR will provide educational experiences for their children.
But 60 percent of those same parents are at least “somewhat concerned” about negative health effects, the group found.
“The truth is, when it comes to VR and kids, we just don’t know that much,” wrote Jeremy Bailenson, the director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and a co-author of the report, titled Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR.
As a result, Bailenson wrote, “for children, moderation should prevail.”
The report includes a review of existing research into virtual reality’s effects on children, as well as the results of an original online survey of more than 12,000 adults, conducted in December 2017.
Among the key survey findings:
21 percent of parents reported owning a virtual-reality device.
13 percent said they planned to buy a VR device in the next year.
Just 43 percent of parents said virtual reality is appropriate for children under 13.
Among parents with a child aged 8-17 who has used VR, the most common uses were playing games (76 percent), watching videos (38 percent), and exploring environments (33 percent.)
The biggest concerns parents reported about virtual reality was that children would be exposed to sexual or violent content.
The biggest barrier to VR adoption among parents was a lack of interest.To help families and educators make sense of this emerging technology, Media will begin reviewing new VR content through its online ratings-and-reviews platform, founder James Steyer said in an introductory letter in the report.
Virtual Reality a Double-Edged Sword?
As virtual-reality technology has advanced and hardware prices have plunged, there’s been renewed attention to VR and its potential applications, including in education.
Among the biggest: virtual field trips, promoting empathy, and some research suggesting it can be a useful tool for helping students with learning about things like fractions and photosynthesis.
But the biggest selling point for VR that it can make experiences feel more real, because it is so immersive—is also at the root of many of the concerns about how the technology might impact users, especially young children.
Among the developmental concerns that researchers have raised: whether younger children can distinguish physical from virtual reality, VR’s impact on children’s impulse control and aggression, and children’s apparent tendency to treat time spent in virtual reality more like an actual experience than like a media experience, such as watching television.
There are also practical concerns: the development of high-quality educational content for VR systems has lagged well behind the development of new hardware, and most experts recommend that young children use VR for no more than a few minutes at a stretch.
Summing up some of the limited research to date on virtual reality’s effects on young children, Bailenson of Stanford wrote that there are promising signs, but also plenty of reasons to be cautious.
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Apr 4, 2018 | Broadcastingcable.com
By John Eggerton
Common Sense Media has drilled down on the impact of VR on kids and finds a dual vision of possible pro-social uses and drawbacks from immersion in another world.
That comes in a new report, Virtual Reality 101, that includes a review of the current literature on the impact of virtual reality on children's cognitive development and physical wellbeing and a new survey of parents.
The Consumer Technology Association says that the Augmented Reality/virtual Reality space is positioned for record growth this year, with headsets and glasses selling 4.9 million units in the U.S., a 25%-plus increase over 2017) with revenue of $1.2 billion.
Common Sense said the report highlights opportunities for VR learning, including kids better understanding the perspective of others, quite literally in the VR world, or help decrease bias and encourage empathy--putting a wife abuser in the roll of an abused wife could increase empathy, or a white person in the body of a black person could decrease racial bias.
Common Sense also points out that VR could make it harder for young children to distinguish between virtual and real experiences, but adds that it could help them develop prosocial behaviors by interacting with characters.
Also on the downside of the ledger is the potential for "sensory and vision issues, aggressive behavior, and escapism and distraction."
The revenue from VR are expected to grow from a little over $1 billion in 2018 to over $6 billion in 2021.
"VR is an exciting new technology that is already showing promise in teaching children important life skills such as empathy and perspective," said Common Sense CEO James P. Steyer of the new report. "There is still a lot to learn about VR, and we have a responsibility to parents and educators to understand how it impacts child development so they can minimize the potentially negative effects while maximizing the positives. As advocates and researchers, we have a unique opportunity to stay on top of this emerging technology and influence its development to help kids learn, achieve better health outcomes, and enhance their entertainment."
Among the survey's top takeaways:
• "One in five U.S. parents today reports living in a household with VR, though many parents (65 percent) say they are not planning to buy a VR device.
• "VR is likely to have powerful effects on children because it can provoke a response to virtual experiences similar to a response to actual experiences.
• "Characters in VR may be especially influential on young children, even more so than characters on TV or computers. This can be good or bad depending on the influence.
• "Overall, 62 percent of parents believe that VR will provide educational experiences for their children, and that number is higher (84 percent) among parents whose children are already using VR.
• "Sixty percent of parents say they are at least "somewhat concerned" that their children will experience negative health effects while using VR.
• "Some parents report that kids are already experiencing health issues, including 13 percent who have bumped into something; eleven percent who have experienced dizziness; ten percent who have had headaches; and eight percent who have had eyestrain."
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Common Sense checks parental temperature on VR for kids
Apr 4, 2018 | KidScreen
By Jeremy Dickson
As virtual reality struggles to reach mass adoption, new US research from non-profit org Common Sense Media takes a closer look at parents’ attitudes about VR for kids, and answers questions parents and teachers have about the emerging technology and its potential impact on children.
Co-authored by Jeremy Bailenson—founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab—Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR breaks down results from a Common Sense/SurveyMonkey online poll conducted amongst a sample of 12,148 American adults from December 21 to 31, 2017.
Within the sample, 3,613 respondents are parents of at least one child under the age of 18, and 471 have eight- to 17-year-old children who use VR.
Among the key findings around ownership and interest levels, only one in five US families (21%) with children under 18 report owning a VR device, and the majority (65%) aren’t planning to buy VR hardware.
And despite high interest levels amongst US children—the study cites 2017 research from Dubit’s Dr. Dylan Yamada-Rice indicating that 70% of US children ages eight to 15 were found to be “extremely” or “fairly” interested in experiencing VR—kids aren’t actually using VR that often, and parents have multiple reasons for not purchasing VR devices.
According to the survey, 50% of kids in the sample of parents of eight- to 17-year-olds who use VR hadn’t used their VR device in the past week, and only 6% of parents said that one or more of their children had used VR every day in the past week.
Meanwhile, amongst families with children under 18 who don’t own and are not planning to buy a VR device, lack of interest in using the technology was the top reason why (56%); 31% don’t know enough about VR, 28% say it’s too expensive, 20% are concerned about health effects, 10% think it’s gimmicky, and 6% say it’s too hard to discover content.
As for VR’s impact on health, 60% of parents say they are at least “somewhat concerned” that their kids will experience negative health effects while using VR, and half of them are “very concerned.” Amongst parents of eight- to 17-year-olds who use VR, 13% of kids have experienced bumping into something, 11% reported dizziness, 10% have suffered headaches, and 8% reported eye strain.
But the number-one VR concern of parents is the potential exposure to violent/sexual content or pornography. A full 70% are worried about inappropriate VR content reaching their kids, 67% are concerned their kids will spend too much time with VR, and 61% are concerned about social isolation. However, nearly half (45%) of parents say that VR is appropriate for children under the age of 13.
Looking at the positive potential of VR, 62% of parents overall believe that VR will provide educational experiences for their children. That number jumps to 84% for parents of eight- to 17-year-olds who use VR.
Despite the educational potential, only 22% of children surveyed have used VR for learning—compared to 76% using VR for playing games, 38% watching videos or movies, 33% exploring environments, 9% connecting with friends, 7% doing research and 1% using VR for medical therapy or intervention.
The report also concludes that VR can potentially be an effective tool for encouraging empathy among children, but 56% of parents of eight- to 17-year-olds who use VR don’t expect that kids will learn to empathize with others while using VR. And amongst parents overall, 38% feel that way.
However, nearly 60% of all parents say VR will allow children to do things they otherwise couldn’t do, and 78% of parents of eight- to 17-year-olds who use VR say it’s a fun way to play together as a family.
Using its own insights gleaned from existing VR research, Common Sense also concludes that characters in VR may be even more influential on young children than characters on TV or computers, which can be good or bad, depending on the influence.
The report cites a Bailenson study from 2017 in which kids ages four to six were assigned to interact with Sesame Street‘s Grover, either in VR or on a two-dimensional screen. The results suggested that children in the VR world were more likely to treat Grover as a friend than children in the traditional TV condition.
In terms of solutions for parents, given that VR safety concerns are legitimate, the report recommends that they set usage time limits for their kids. And when choosing VR content, parents should consider whether they would want their children to have the same experience in the real world.
Another key recommendation is to create safe spaces where kids can sit down and experience VR, including location-based VR centers using high-end systems and offering more of a social experience.
As for privacy issues, the report urges that parents closely read and understand a product’s or service’s privacy policies before using it, and the potential for VR to collect large amounts of information from users, including eye movements and other physical responses, should not be underestimated.
The report comes on the heels of a new US study from Deloitte, which found that consumers’ value of VR headsets has fallen by 14% since 2015, although there is growing demand for digital reality experiences. According to the study, more than 40% of consumers, and 57% of 14- to 34-year-olds, say they would go to the movie theater more frequently for an AR, VR or 360-degree experience.
Despite the slower than expected consumer acceptance and technological improvements around VR, more kids properties continue to enter the space, including One Animation’s Oddbods, Toei Animation’s One Piece and LEGOLAND, which is adding VR racing to kids roller coasters.
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VR's long-term effects unknown. Your kids are the guinea pigs
Apr 4, 2018 | CNET
By Abrar Al-Heeti
We know almost nothing about the long-term effects of virtual reality on kids, and that's got some parents worried.
In fact, 60 percent of parents say they're at least "somewhat concerned" their kids will face negative health effects from using the technology, according to a reportreleased Wednesday by Stanford researchers and Common Sense Media.
The study, which includes a survey of 3,600 parents with at least one child under 18, examines the potential impacts -- both good and bad -- the technology can have on children. It found that parents are generally apprehensive about the virtual reality, especially given that there's been little research conducted on VR and child users.
"Kids are often an afterthought when it comes to research," said Michael Robb, director of research at Common Sense Media. "The research here is still pretty underdeveloped, which is a little concerning given how much more quickly VR is being adopted into American homes. There's a call to action for researchers to help better understand what both the short- and long-term effects are going to be on children, because right now it's like a big experiment in real time where we don't really know what's going to happen."
VR, a computer-generated simulation of a 3D environment, uses a headset to virtually transport viewers or allow them to interact with a setting in a seemingly realistic way. It's been used in gaming but has a variety of other applications, from helping people overcome phobias to distracting patients from painful procedures.
Still, VR has largely been seen as a gimmick, given the fact that the masses haven't really adopted the technology -- despite the backing of major players like Facebook, Samsung and Google. Sleeker, cheaper devices could start to change that. Greater affordability is also making it easier to conduct research about the technology's effects on health issues like neurological development.
"We just don't know that much about VR kits," said Jeremy Bailenson, founder of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University and co-author of the new report. "The amount of studies that look at the cognitive development issues, you can count on one hand."Expanding use
Uncertainty is by no means slowing down the spread of VR. One in five US parents said they live in a household with VR hardware, the study found, and 13 percent are planning to buy a VR device in the next year.
That means the majority of parents aren't planning to buy VR gear in the near future, but kids' interest remains high. According to a study last year, 70 percent of US children between 8 and 15 said they are "extremely" or "fairly" interested in experiencing VR. That desire will likely drive the purchase of VR devices according to the new report. In fact, two-thirds of parents in homes with VR said their kids had asked them to purchase a device.
Not surprisingly, a child's age is key to how parents feel about VR. Just 13 percent said VR is appropriate for kids under 7. By contrast, nearly half said VR is appropriate for kids under 13. That coincides with the age recommendation of VR devices such as the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift.
VR developers and researchers warn that more research needs to be done before the technology can be safely recommended for children, especially given the fact that development of the prefrontal cortex of the brain accelerates in middle childhood. That's linked with the development of a child's working memory, impulse control and cognitive flexibility -- or the ability to change perspective or approaches to a task.
This raises questions about how long-term VR use could affect a child's brain development and health. For example, the mismatch between focusing on images that appear to be far away but are actually on a screen just a few centimeters away can confuse the brain and cause eyestrain and headaches in the short term. The long-term effects are still unknown.
Additionally, 70 percent of parents said they're concerned about sexual content, pornography and violent content in VR, 67 percent said they're concerned kids will spend too much time with VR and 61 worry the technology will lead to social isolation.
"Historically, there's been a pretty good pattern of parents having very similar concerns about new media technologies," Robb said. "The ongoing question that we have to address is: How different are the experiences of those things in VR versus other platforms? Given that kids may experience this content differently than they do TV or video games, we have to assess how accurate parents' perceptions are to be concerned in these ways about this specific kind of content."Moderation is key
When it comes to regulating kids' use of VR, moderation is key, Bailenson said. Instead of hours of use, parents should think in terms of minutes.
"Most VR is meant to be done on the five- to 10-minute scale," Bailenson noted in the study.
VR is so immersive that children can have a hard time distinguishing which components of virtual events aren't real, the study said. That's why Bailenson advises parents not to let their kids do anything on VR that they wouldn't want them to experience in the real world, such as a war game.
That blurring of lines between virtual and real experiences also means characters in VR could have more influence on young children than do characters on TV or computers. Just like adults, kids are prone to respond to realistic virtual characters as they would to a real person, research suggests.
In one study last year, children between 4 and 6 were chosen to either interact with Grover from Sesame Street in VR or on a two-dimensional screen. Those who used VR were more likely to treat Grover as a friend, shown by the fact that they shared more stickers with him and demonstrated other measures of friendship.Educational gains
This can have significant implications for education, Robb said.
"The fact that VR characters are even more present, perhaps more interactive, means that children are ready to learn even more from a VR character than they might be even from a traditional screen," he said, "because their interaction with Elmo or whoever is going to be that much more intense."
VR has been shown to facilitate learning of concepts such as fractions, plant growth and other standards-based math and science. Sixty-two percent of parents surveyed said they believe VR will enhance educational experiences for their children. That number jumps to 84 percent for parents of 8- to 17-year-olds who already use VR.
"Once you're an owner, you become a little bit more of a believer," Robb said.
Although students are also more enthusiastic about learning with VR, research has found that they don't necessarily learn more through VR than through video or computer games. For example, in one study, a group presented with a botany lesson in VR had the same learning outcomes as a group assigned the lesson on a computer.
The result could be due to the fact that kids are so captivated by the sensory experience that they don't focus enough on the narrative information.Long-term impact
Research has shown that embodying an avatar in VR can increase an adult's empathy toward people who are different from them, reducing issues like implicit racial bias and evoking empathy for people with colorblindness.
But VR's potential to encourage empathy among younger children could be difficult, given they're still developing the ability to take perspectives and understand that others may think and feel differently than they do. In fact, only 38 percent of parents think VR can help children empathize with those who are different from them.
"It may be the case that embodied avatar experiences might not be as effective until children develop skills in social perspective-taking," the study states.
The long-term effects -- both positive and negative -- remain unknown.
"We have just scratched the surface," Bailenson said. "We have almost no data, and we need data quickly."
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