Virtual reality presents new challenges for parents
Research assesses potential value in educating children
I worked out with comedian Tiffany Haddish theother day.
We stood in Egypt, surrounded by nothing but sand and pyramids.
As we warmed up, I faced her and mirrored her movements. When she lifted a knee, I lifted a knee. When she stretched out an arm, I stretched out an arm. In the 20 minutes we had together, she tossed out a few jokes, but mostly she offered encouragement.
That was her purpose, after all — not to sweat with me but to get me sweating as I jabbed and ducked, practicing boxing moves I had learned just days earlier. She wasn’t real, but my movements were.
There is no way to work out in virtual reality without looking ridiculous. A weighty pair of goggles sits on your head and no one around you can see the objects you’re hitting with precision. They only see you swiping at air, and if you haven’t marked your boundaries correctly, bumping into furniture.
I could hear my kids giggling in the background.
Idon’t fall into the typical VR user demographics, which according to one study, tend to be males between the ages of 16 and 35. But I’ve enjoyed playing video games and as a mom, I’ve found there’s no better ego boost than seeing awe on your children’s faces when you beat them at MarioKart or Super Smash Bros.
So, when a family member gifted me an Oculus Quest 2 headset, I didn’t leave it sitting in the box. I decided to explore the virtual world with my eager 9-year-old son.
The first time we used the headset, I didn’t know what to expect.
The first thing I learned was this: Exploring virtual reality as a parent is much different from using it without children in mind. In many ways it feels like stepping off a paved path onto one that hasn’t yet been cleared of greenery and marked with signs that provide clear guidance.
The science is still developing when it comes to children using VR, and several major manufacturers of headsets have set the recommended age of use at 12 and older. That doesn’t mean, though, that children across the country aren’t slipping on those headsets every day. VR experts and parents know they are and that based on sales predictions many more will be in the next few years. They also know that some interesting things, both good and uncertain, can happen when children use the technology.
I can tell you about my own family’s experience, but I am not a VR expert. So, I reached out to Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab,.
A recent study to come out of the lab is titled,
“Accessibility of Educational Virtual Reality for Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The study involved surveying and interviewing the parents and legal guardians of 411 children who ranged in age from 0 to 17 and hadat least one VR headset at home. The mean age of the childrenended up being 9.5.
The research started at the beginning of the pandemic and grew out of Dr. Bailenson’sown experience.
“In March 2020, I’m a parent and I had an 8 and a 6year-old at the time,” he says. “My 6-year-old didn’t even know how to type, didn’t even know how to use a computer,and yet she was having todo online school all day.”
It occurred to Dr. Bailenson that he could use his VR expertise to look for virtual experiences that would build on what his children were learningin school.
“And what I found as a parent very quickly,” he says, “was that there was almost no educational content that ‘A’ was at the quality where it was going to really add value and ‘B’ that plugged into the curriculum.”
The study, he says, aimed to explore on a broader level the question he had asked himself about his own children: “How can this be used foreducation?”
Ininterviews conducted as part of the study, parents described using VR to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City, the moon and places where they had spent real-life vacations. One parent told of using it to let a child who was learning Russian travel virtually to Moscow.
One of the most powerful examples of its use for education came from a mom of teenagedaughters. She spoke about how the Anne Frank House VR experience resonatedwith her children.
“My daughter couldn’t believe how small the house is that Anne Frank was in and she’s like, ‘Mom, you can’t go anywhere,’” reads the study. The daughter spent a considerable amount of time in the virtual house and read all the material. Her mom, when interviewed afterward, said the family ended that experience with gratitude for the home theyhad.
Dr.Bailenson says his general rule for VR is that it should be used for “quick, intense, aha experiences” and for no longer than 30 minutes at a time. The study also notesthat research has found that young children, such as 6- and 7-year-olds, are prone to remember events in VR as if they happened in real life and that more research is needed to assess the effects of
VRon children.
My 7-year-old tried on the headset and within minutes decided he did not like the wayit made him feel.
My 9-year-old put it on, felt fine and was easily able to distinguish the difference between real life and the realisticportrayal of it.
I don’t think VR can make up for the learning loss that hasoccurred among children during the pandemic — and Dr. Bailenson agreed — but I can see how when used under supervision at home, virtual experiences can lead to real discoveries and conversations that might not have occurredotherwise.
My son can spend hours lost in books or searching for insects outside. But I’ve also seen VR ignite a different type of curiosity in him. I have been careful about the privacy settings I’ve chosen, the age-appropriateness of the apps I’ve purchased and the amount of time I allow him to wear the headset. Without those precautions, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him exploring the technology. But with them, I am enjoying our shared adventure.
On days that are too cold to go outside, we take turns working out on “Supernatural,” which is where I encountered Ms. Haddish. When we want to laugh, we fling Angry Birds at taunting pigs. And on a recent night, we stepped into the imaginary roles of National Geographic photographers.
“Ijust took a photo of sea lions,” my son shouted after a few minutes. “Whoa, whoa! Emperor penguins swimming underwater.” He narrated the actions of several more animals before he left Antarctica.
“I’m going to a place called Machu Picchu” he said. “Do youknow where that is?”
I told him I had hiked through there when I was in collegeand studying in South America. When he took the headset off, he started asking questions: How old was I? What was the place like? Whatanimals did I see?
Only later did it occur to me that we had gone from having a virtual adventure together to having a conversationabout a real one.