VR advice, young children

[Channel Hopper]

I've looked, but can only find general information from Google, along with stories of a few years back which are way out of date.

The school curriculum - at least in Surrey - now includes a teacher/pupil experience called Google Expeditions, where the children are looking at various scenes using Google cardboard and - presumably - a classful of mobile phones.

See www.g.co/expeditions.

I believe it is a once / twice a week lesson, where the 7 year olds are given a 'passport' in which to write down the subject, confirming what they have viewed and how interesting it is. The experience then continues at home, where the parent becomes the teacher. For this of course the family requires two compatible devices, though the cardboard VR unit is not a neccessity.

My question is, does anyone have the guidelines for children viewing this sort of stuff from seven onwards, if there is any medical backed advice on the potential issues of viewing in VR at a young age and whether there is any grading/limitation if a child has a known defect in their eyesight.

I would of course like our young one to have the best start in life wrt education, and would consider going for a cardboard system if I can find there are little or no harmful effects of viewing the panoramic views that form part of Expeditions (and others that are bound to follow), but I am aware of some earlier advice of the need to prevent children from watching using Oculus type VR until they reach the age of 12+

Thanks in advance.

 

[Topper]

Sorry broken link and I confess I had to Google, Google cardboard, must come out from under my rock more often.
I suppose the answer to your question is not there at the moment, my fear is that using VR headsets at a young age would limit the muscles of the eye's ability to focus on reality sooner rather than later in life. That is apart from the fact that we already have a generation of people that no longer look where they are going because they are watching their mobile phones whilst walking, I nearly ran someone down the other day who had not realised they had wandered from the walkway into the road in a location where there are no longer any defined kerbs and paths owing to modern thinking by planning people who should know better.

 

[sonnetpete]

I confess I had to Google, Google cardboard

Also had to Google it and was reminded of the old Viewmaster 3D slide system...(for our younger members, it looked like this..) I had one from an early age, though it's inability to show moving images may not qualify it as 'virtual reality'...

 

[Topper]

Also had to Google it and was reminded of the old Viewmaster 3D slide system...(for our younger members, it looked like this..) I had one from an early age, though it's inability to show moving images may not qualify it as 'virtual reality'...
View attachment 104803

Lol, I would agree with you as the Viewmaster was not strapped to your face when walking around a room

 

[John Pykett]

Also had to Google it and was reminded of the old Viewmaster 3D slide system...(for our younger members, it looked like this..) I had one from an early age, though it's inability to show moving images may not qualify it as 'virtual reality'...
View attachment 104803

i got one myself

 

[Channel Hopper]

Lol, I would agree with you as the Viewmaster was not strapped to your face when walking around a room

You could with the Wheatstone (if that way inclined)

 

[Channel Hopper]

Sorry broken link and I confess I had to Google, Google cardboard, must come out from under my rock more often.

My error, it's Google Expeditions .

 

[Topper]

FYI
http://virtualrealitypit.com/virtual-reality-headsets-can-cause-permanent-eye-damage/?i=1

 

[Channel Hopper]

FYI
http://virtualrealitypit.com/virtual-reality-headsets-can-cause-permanent-eye-damage/?i=1

Thanks but as mentioned, there were multiple scare stories a couple of years back when it was new technology. Hopefully medical journalism has associated periodic use, subject age and any effect, bad, indifferent or good.