Before the Future of Childhood: Immersive Media and Child Development salon took place in November 2018, we invited experts to share their visions about the ways VR and AR might impact childhood 10 years from now. This essay from Dr. Michael Rich, founder and director of the Center on Media and Child Health, looks at some of the exciting possibilities that immersive media hold for children —if it is designed wisely.

This essay is featured in Immersive Media and Child Development.

Virtual reality (VR) is an oxymoron. And it functions as one, presenting both potential and perils for childhood. The tech industry is betting big on VR and its close relative, augmented reality (AR), predicting that by 2025, VR/AR will command $11.6 billion in video gaming, $3.2 billion in screen entertainment, and $7 million in education (likely an underestimation). By 2022, it is estimated that more than 100 million VR/AR headsets or glasses will be in use.

What does this mean for children? Can VR/AR expand the world of childhood by providing near-infinite information and (virtual) experience? Or will it implode human society, with individuals retreating into unique, curated experiences in their own heads? Will we develop into what Francis Coppola predicted in a conversation with Akira Kurosawa in 1979, a loosely connected mesh of disembodied minds, each telling our own stories, writing our own music, and making our own movies? Any and all of these are possible.

Play is the work of childhood and toys and games are where much VR/AR innovation is happening. But we cannot make the glib assumption that kids will love VR/AR toys, games, and education long enough to benefit from it. If VR/AR does not provide a sustaining interest, children will move to the next bright, shiny thing once the novelty wears off. (Remember Pokémon Go?) Stimulus provided by VR requires significant cognitive processing to synthesize and integrate, with a particularly heavy load on the executive functions of the prefrontal cortex. “Brain overload,” especially acute in children whose prefrontal cortices will not complete development until their mid- to late 20s, is the reason why 3D movies have (repeatedly) been hugely popular, then faded almost as rapidly. AR, especially when built into glasses, will need to solve the “creepy” sense of users behaving like zombies because they are rapidly toggling between virtual and physical worlds. (Remember Google Glass?)

Developers speak glowingly of VR/AR creating immersive, three-dimensional experiences at the computer-human interface, improving digital literacy, communication, collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving. The goal is to take advantage of children’s engagement and facility with interactive media to reinforce enjoyment and confidence in learning, building the “twenty-first century skills” necessary to move beyond receiving information to synthesizing, integrating, and transforming it. However, many of these theoretical potentials have yet to be realized, especially for children whose brains have not yet developed the complexity necessary to take advantage of them. This raises the concern that children’s brains, developing in a VR/AR environment where anything is possible and pre-processed information and experiences are delivered on demand, will be irreversibly altered toward the entitled, incurious, and passive.

In designing VR/AR devices and applications for children, it is critical to keep in mind the active and inquisitive nature of children, the key developmental tasks of each age and stage, and the profound influence of environmental stimuli and challenges on their physical, mental, and social development and health. To be most effective, VR/AR must be designed to respect and promote a rich and diverse menu of childhood experience rather than replace them with attenuated analogs. Children are exquisite sensors of the physical, social, and emotional. Regardless of the visual resolution and audio fidelity, VR/AR cannot recreate the feel of an orchard breeze, the smell of fertile soil, or the crisp, juicy crunch of an apple fresh off the tree. Artificial intelligence cannot approach your mother’s loving smile, the warmth of her lap, or the safety of her embrace. Used mindfully, in focused and directed ways that optimize its capabilities as a tool, VR/AR can be designed to springboard children’s engagement with the physical world with imagination and playfulness, to connect with others in deep and authentic ways, and to approach problems with a critical mind, a creative spirit, and an empathetic heart.

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Michael Rich, MD, MPH, is the founder and director of the Center on Media and Child Health, an academic center of excellence at Boston Children’s Hospital dedicated to investigating, translating, and innovating with media to optimize the physical, mental, academic and social-emotional health and development of children and adolescents. Dr. Rich advises pediatricians, educators and parents on how to optimize child development in the Digital Age at askthemediatrician.org.

My Child, Media and Technology is a new research-based session within the Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors curriculum on the positive use of technology.

As media and technology have an increasing presence in our lives, more parents are seeking guidance in how to select the best media for their little ones. That has been the case for many parents who have participated in the national Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors program. They have expressed their worries and struggles with the topic. Often, they don’t even know where to start as they grapple with concerns about how media and tech could have a negative impact on their kids’ healthy development.

In response to this need, Abriendo Puertas/ Opening Doors and Common Sense joined forces to co-create a brand new session addressing the healthy, balanced use of media and technology with young kids.  We integrated research-based tips and information in a friendly, relatable voice so parents can feel empowered and more confident in our 24/7 connected world.

The new Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, 3rd edition curriculum offers that needed education support to nurture parents’ leaderships skills as their kids’ first and most important teacher and advocate. Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors is a successful parent-led, bilingual and bicultural program that focuses on reaching parents of children ages 0-5 by partnering with more than 500 community based organizations across the country.

“I’ve had the opportunity to implement the Abriendo Puertas program in the previous edition, and wow, this edition is really much better,” said Marisela Blancas, one of the facilitators recently trained in the new edition. “The new changes in the curriculum are going to make a big impact in the community. It is updated in the area of ​​technology, because parents were constantly asking questions about it, and this will help a lot to clarify doubts, myths, beliefs, and so on.”

One of the changes in the 10-part curriculum is a brand-new interactive session on media and technology. I had the exciting experience and honor to lead and co-write this new addition to the program. It’s been a great opportunity to share key messages that are at the core of our work at Common Sense.  As lead author, I worked closely with Sandra Gutierrez, Founder and National Director of Opening Doors. We also collaborated with several colleagues including the Vroom app team.

Maria Alvarez leads an interactive workshop designed to help parents feel more confident about using media and technology with their children.

Following the Opening Doors format, the 2-hour session incorporates the three archetypal characters of Negative Norma, Thomas Tomorrow, and Positive Patricia to invite conversation and interaction among the participants as they reflect on their own use of media and tech.  It also includes videos in both English and Spanish, interactive activities, and easy-to-use resources, such as #DeviceFreeDinner, our Common Sense campaign encouraging families to enjoy meals without any devices at the table. Our latest PSAs feature Sesame Street characters. The curriculum also addresses a demo of the Vroom app.

The creation of this session was a rigorous process of writing, editing, and most importantly, several rounds of field testing with focus groups to help us refine the content based on parents’ feedback. I led one of these focus group sessions in downtown Los Angeles a couple of years ago. Opening Doors’ partner,  Saint Anne’s, provided the space and recruited 15 lower-income Spanish-speaking moms to participate in the trial. It was inspiring to observe how hungry and interested they were in learning more about technology, how to identify and choose the best media for their kids. All of them said that knowing how Opening Doors had helped them in other areas such a positive discipline, social emotional learning, and parents advocacy, they trusted the new media and tech session would provide them with needed guidance.

I am still as excited today as when I was first approached to create this session with Opening Doors.  Having the opportunity to share our expertise and to learn from these families has certainly been a meaningful professional experience. It has been inspiring to see their faces light up as they discovered there are resources to support the interactions their kids have with media and technology. Providing this empowering, balanced guide to navigate the world of media and tech with young kids with the thousands of working parents that are part of Opening Doors in the country, is something I feel fortunate to do, and is an important part of our mission at Common Sense.

If you are interested in learning more about Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors visit their website. For more information on Common Sense’s work for parents, go to www.commonsensemedia.org.

María Alvarez is VP, Common Sense Latino. Her Latino-focused parent advice has been featured on ¡Despierta América!, Noticias Telemundo, and CNN en Español and published in La Opinión, El Mensajero, and La Raza, among many other outlets. She has produced dozens of articles and features on commonsensemedia.org/latino that provide Latino parents with simple, actionable advice to help them learn how to choose and use media and technology wisely. Prior to working at Common Sense, Maria was a television executive producer and reporter in Venezuela, Honduras, and Chile for CNN en Español, Univision, Telemundo, and the Associated Press. Maria earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Universidad Central de Venezuela and her master’s degree in communications from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. You can follow Common Sense Latino on Facebook and follow María on Twitter @mariaoxalvarez.