Metafocus: Is Virtual Reality Safe for Kids?

Last month, this columnexplored the limitations of virtual reality in the classroom. One concernbears closer examination: Is VR safe for kids? At the South by Southwest (SXSW)and SXSWedu conferences in March, several speakers and panelists brought up theissue as well. Evidently, the risks of VR, especially for children, areweighing on many people’s minds. So let’s dive in and see what’s really goingon.

Vague warnings

All the VR headset manufacturersinclude safety warnings for their devices, mostly describing vague warningsabout headset size, eye development, and young children.

For example, Oculus Rift’s safety warning says the headset should not be used bychildren under age 13 because it “is not sized for children and improper sizingcan lead to discomfort or health effects.” Further, “younger children are in acritical period in visual development,” meaning that perhaps the device couldimpair development. The HTC Vive User Manual has a similar warning. HTC doesn’tspecify an age requirement, but they do say it “was not designed to be used bychildren.” The manual recommends monitoring older children for “negativeeffects” while using the Vive. The Google Daydream View Health and Safety Information says simplyand concisely that “Daydream View should not be used by children under the ageof 13,” and the Google Cardboard Product Safety Information page says, “Cardboard isnot for use by children without adult supervision.” The PlayStation VR Health Warnings set the age requirement at 12,slightly lower than the others for unknown reasons, and state: “The vision ofyoung children (especially those under six years old) is still underdevelopment.” 

Are these companies just playingit safe to avoid potential liability down the road? As in, “It’s horrible thatmillions of children used VR and subsequently had their eyeballs fall right outof their heads. Even though we’ve marketed extensively to kids for years, wetold you not to do it. It’s right there in the safety warnings. Good lucktrying to sue us!” That explanation sounds reasonable, in an unreasonable way,but do these manufacturers know something we don’t? Are these headsets actuallydangerous for children?

At a SXSW panel in March, VRindustry pioneer Nonny de la Peña said she called up Oculus, HTC, and PlayStationto ask them about the child safety issue directly. All three companies sworethat it was purely a head strap sizing issue. Props to her for makingthose calls, but of course they told her that. They wouldn’t publicly admit toreal dangers while simultaneously selling millions of headsets. Regardless, ifsizing really were the only issue, how hard would it be to make a smallerdevice or strap so they could sell millions more headsets targeted atsmall-headed kids?

In truth, no one really knows whetherVR impairs vision development in children, because no peer-reviewed, long-termstudies have been completed on this topic yet. The jury is officially stillout.

What would you do?

Anecdotally, a friend of mine, whowill remain anonymous, founded a VR game development company, and he lets hisdaughter, who is under age 13, play games on VR headsets all the time with nonoticeable adverse effects. Like most people, she only plays a few minutes at atime, rarely more than an hour straight, and certainly not every day. My friendhas a hard time believing that this moderate usage could hurt her, and Iwholeheartedly agree with him.

I don’t have children, but if Idid, I would absolutely let my kids use VR before turning 12 or 13. In fact, Ialready encourage my young niece and nephew to use VR—with a caveat. I’dencourage my niece, nephew, and hypothetical children to wear a VR headset onlyas much as I’d let them use a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or other gadget witha screen. Staring at screens for extended periods isn’t good for anyone’s eyes,kids included.

I’m 40 and am lucky enough to havebetter than 20/20 eyesight. Even my vision gets a little blurry if I stare atscreens for too long, as I’m doing right at this moment. Taking short eyebreaks every few minutes reduces eye strain considerably. I’ll bet you a dollarto a virtual dollar—again, without scientific proof to back me up—that eventhough VR screens are positioned physically much closer to the eyes thansmartphone, tablet, and laptop screens, limiting the duration of VR sessionsand taking frequent breaks will dramatically reduce the risk of eye strain anddiminish negative effects on eye development in children.

Should we, in fact, limit theamount of time kids use VR in order to protect their eyes? Yes. Should we limitthe amount of time kids stare at other kinds of screens every day? Yes. Isanyone too worried about these other screens damaging kids’ eyes? No. (Actually, yes, but because these other technologies arealready so ingrained in our lives and the economy, the likelihood of keepingchildren away from all screens seems impossibly far-fetched.) Are there moreimportant issues to worry about than the adverse effects of eye strain onchildren’s eyes? Absolutely.

Neuroplasticity

Besides the sizing and visionissues, another concern is that VR could physically change our brains, which couldpotentially be bad for children’s brains that are still developing. Once again,no research has yet proven anything here, though it’s quite likely thatextensive VR use will change our brain composition. But is this good, bad, orneither? Who knows? Using smartphones changes brain composition, as doesplaying chess, hammering nails, participating in team sports, and everythingelse we do, if we do it enough. 

Much research needs to be done tosay for certain whether these likely-but-unproven physiological changes haveadverse, long-term effects. However, I personally won’t refrain fromparticipating in enjoyable and potentially beneficial activities simply becausethey could change my brain composition. Potential updates to my ever-changingbrain composition rank near the bottom of the list of factors influencing mydaily actions. Seems like a non-issue to me, right up there with avoidinglooking at screens so my eyes don’t get bleary.

Summary

Potential brain changes and eyestrain aren’t keeping me from writing this column on my tablet, and I’m notconvinced they should. So what if my brain and eyes change as a result of themodern-day omnipresence of screens, VR headsets included? Maybe that’s simplymy body adapting to a new world. 

Admittedly, that’s my own,semi-informed, freely chosen decision. What about children? Should VR be usedin the classroom if it potentially poses unknown risks to children? There’s noclear answer, especially for younger kids, but I say go for it. Everything wedo in life has at least some risk, and VR is no exception. If VR is used withsufficient caution and intention, the rewards—which I’ve discussed at length in prior columns—can far outweigh the risks.

Stay tuned for next month’s “Metafocus” columnthat will explore ethics in VR games. Immersive games (such as those played inVR) can strongly impact emotional and psychological development in children, thusfactoring into the discussion about safety and VR, but the topics of safety andethics are too big to adequately cover in a single article.