A new report is highlighting the dangers that may be hiding in virtual reality for children. It is no secret that technology is advancing, and children and youth love it. If mom thinks back to what her options were when she was a child, she can see just how different the world looks and how far it has come. Children now know how to use devices and social media from an early age, and it seems like it is only getting more advanced. Virtual reality is something that is becoming increasingly popular, and it seems fun and cool. While mom may not be able to keep her children away from things like this, the best option is to be aware of the impact it can have.
According to Today, a new report is revealing the dangers of virtual reality for young children. This report was done by Common Sense Media, and the full details on it can be read in full here.
The report states that the new virtual reality technology by Meta (or Facebook), is moving “too fast” for the safety guards that they already have in place and this can be a concern for parents. The reason this is so important is that children are more used to it than adults are, so parents have to be made aware of what is going on.
This always means that they can be exposed to sexual and violent content without parents even being aware of what is going on. The report highlights many concerning areas that parents should be made aware of, and some of them were privacy and data collection, like eye movement and facial recognition. They also raised concerns about psychological risks, like youth getting addicted to it and being unable to separate reality from fantasy when they are using the system.
Virtual reality systems state that they are working on parental controls, but these are not fully in place right now, so if children are on the system now, they could be exposed to inappropriate material. Reporters even entered the metaverse to take a look at what was going on, and it didn’t take long until they interacted with inappropriate people who believed they were talking to a minor. Now, a moderator for the Metaverse did step in to make sure everything was safe, but this may not be enough for parents to feel comfortable.
Sources: Today, Common Sense Media