VR helmets may be the top gift for kids' Christmas gift list this year, but since VR devices are all marked with age restrictions, is this technology safe for children?
The recommended age for Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR is 13+, but Sony PS VR gives a recommended age of 12+. According to HTC, Vive is not designed for children, and children should not use VR helmets either. Google’s proposal for its cheap cartons VR glasses is that children must use their parents’ guardianship.
These VR companies give some explanation for the age limit of the equipment. So what do scientists think? According to Marientina Gotsis, director of creative media and behavioral health at the University of Southern California’s Department of Cinematic Arts, these explanations are not all.
"We don't have enough data on the current child safety aspects of VR technology," said Marientina Gotsis on Life Science. "So, because of the current lack of research data and our understanding of neural plasticity [referring to structural changes in the brain caused by empirical reasons, we do not recommend children to use VR."
Brain development
According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, California, on mice in 2014, those living mice living in VR have different brain regions related to spatial learning performance than mice living in the real world. Living in the VR world is small. Half of the brain's neurons in the white rat are closed. So far it is unclear what this means to humans, but scientists say that this is awaiting more research on "the effects of long-term use of VR."
Gotsis said that VR has a far more impact on the brain development of children. In her research center there is the use of entertainment technology, including VR, for mental and behavioral health research. She has already started to study "children's VR applications", but these are conducted under a high degree of monitoring.
"The brain is very fragile during its early years and exposure to unsuitable equipment for a long time may cause damage," she said. “Children may still be different how to express eye fatigue, and it is possible that even if they find that their eyes are uncomfortable, they can't send adults to take off the equipment through feedback.â€
However, this does not mean that VR is not safe for children. She added that the security of VR depends on the device, the type of content, and the time of use. It is also the individual situation of using VR children.
VR and vision
One of the biggest concerns about VR technology is the impact on the child’s vision. Parents have long warned children to stare at the screen for a long time and watching television will affect their eyesight, but
According to the American Surgical Association, there is not enough evidence that permanent exposure to the screen can cause permanent visual impairment.
However, there is a problem. Although it may not seem obvious, it can also make you feel weird, that is, the eye-focusing problem called visual convergence (acquired eye-fatigue, headache, etc.) . This problem does not seem to be obvious, because if you do not use virtual reality equipment, usually you will not encounter.
The first generation VR helmets achieved a deep illusion by presenting slightly different images on each flat screen. This means that no matter how “far†the object looks, the eye is still focused on a fixed point.
"Some scientists believe this is why the experiencer is dizzy when watching 3D simulations - TVs, movies, and VR helmets," said Peter Howarth, optometrist and senior lecturer in visual ergonomics at Loughborough University in the UK.
However, Howarth said that there is ample evidence that only those patients whose eyes themselves have a disease or control problem may feel uncomfortable, such as headache and eye fatigue. For children, having these symptoms indicates that the child's eyes need to be checked, so VR helmets may actually help find eye problems, he added.
Howarth said that as far as he knows, there is no academic research on the impact of VR on children's eyes so far, although VR helmet manufacturers have already explored this field. "I guess that these VR vendors may have hidden the truth, so even if children have strabismus in the future, they will not be held responsible," Howarth told Life Science.
Lack of research
Michael Madary, a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Mainz in Germany, co-authored the first ethical code on the use of VR in February. The study on the impact of VR on children's eyes is unlikely to improve.
"Because of obvious ethical reasons, children cannot be studied as a research object to study the impact of VR on children," he told Life Science. Madary studies the ethic of emerging technologies, combined with the results of research in psychology and neuroscience. He believes that the biggest concern is the impact of VR on the development of children's hearts.
"It is difficult for children to distinguish between display and fictional illusions during their childhood," Madary said. "You can imagine putting children in VR time - this problem will be amplified."
For example, harmful content that you see in a movie theater may have a greater impact when viewed in VR. The obnoxious advertisements on television and villainous characters will have greater impact through VR, Madary added.
"In VR, your environment is designed for people who want to manipulate you, whether for advertising, politics, or religion," Madary said. If you are immersed in a manipulated VR environment for a long time, this can be seen as a threat to the future growth of child autonomy.
Although VR has great potential, including education and medical care, Madary said that manufacturers need to unite to study the impact of long-term use of VR on children. Prior to this, Madary suggested that children still use VR helmets with caution.
"I doubt whether parents have due diligence. This is the most important," he said. "This is just a very extreme situation, and we must know that there is no related research experiment so far, and parents are taking their children to do experiments."
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