Virtual reality has experienced a rapid increase in popularity over the past two decades due to technological advances. Consequently, the effects it has -and will continue to have- on the way face-to-face social interactions are conveyed has been widely debated. I am of the opinion that the way our generation of children is learning how to relate to society in today’s digital era must be the focus of this subject.
The world has become more accessible and connected due to the rise of digital platforms and social media available, and both children and young adults have been learning to navigate them since the 90’s. We young adults have grown with early YouTube and social media, there were still plenty of alternatives to socialize outdoors and still nurture our creativity available, and digital skills were taught early to us alongside basic internet safety, focused on matters like protecting our personal data in intuitive platforms with not so many requirements at the time. Early Flash games like Papa Pizzeria, Friv Games, Dressupgames or Fireboy and Watergirl were simple, accessible, even multiplayer, and didn’t require any of our personal information; even early virtual world games like Club Penguin had secure mode for the chat so the younger ones were not at risk and could enjoy the minigames.
Conversely, due to the lack of these tools nowadays, there has been a worrisome trend of decrease on the attention span and literacy within gen alpha. Many recreative spaces and green areas that should be dedicated to them, and ought to cater to the need to nurture early social interpersonal and intrapersonal skills during childhood, have been unfortunately lost in the name of modernity with a pinch of capitalism and a hidden consumerism, whether it is a new mall, cut trees, or anti-homeless architecture in the place of a park. Moreover, that trend has also been displayed in digital spaces; today’s games have become more complex and have started to encourage use of personal data and voice chat that sometimes goes unsupervised. In addition to this, generative AI, especially when it comes to art, teaches kids to diminish the steal of many artist’s efforts and hard work for a quick solution, instead of the cultivation of their creativity in digital programs like Photoshop, Canva, or PowerPoint.
In conclusion, today’s virtual reality needs to be reflected on to be able to provide the same security and nurture for the children’s creativity that we had growing up in early internet.