The Future Of VR & Younger Generations

WOU: Hi there Daniela, before we start, could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?

DANIELA: I always loved hearing stories! When I was young I worked in cast production focused on finding real stories. I learned that listening to other people I learned a lot about myself and I find it comforting.

This audiovisual work led me to discover the universe of electronic sports in Brazil. In 2014, I started working in a Brazilian organisation, INTZ esports club. I spent almost one decade working in this industry working with the main players in the market, I met many pro players, influencers, built amazing projects, and consulted for big brands and advertising agencies.

In parallel, my first contact with therapy happened when I was 14 years old. At 27, I went to understand psychoanalysis and lay down on a couch. I was experiencing the effects of psychoanalysis on myself and was loving it! So, I started studying it as a hobby in 2010 in addition to a series of other practices of alternative therapies. I am a person living a lifestyle of body, mind and soul since I can remember.

In 2020, I decided to transform my hobby into a profession. I entered a postgraduate course specialising in Lacanian theory, joined a bunch of Freudian study groups, as well as a supervision group and started to attend in February of 2021.

I am also a mother of two nice guys, an 18 years old and a 14 years old and I have experienced the overwhelming entry of technology at home, at school, in our lives, in an empirical way. I was concerned as any parent would be and it is such a joy for me to relate all these subjects to help my fellow parents around the world and try to contribute for better connections and relationships between parents and their kids regarding this field.

WOU: In a world constantly moving further away from in-person connections, how do we ensure that we facilitate these spaces for young people?

DANIELA: Despite all the advances in technology, there are spaces that remain inherent in the lives of children and adolescents. Schools, kindergartens, universities, music schools, martial arts schools, gyms, theatre classes, malls, parks and beaches, concerts, restaurants or fast food places. It seems to me that there is a more accommodating behaviour between parents and children, in a generalised way, in the sense of promoting meetings between friends.

“There is no rule or playbook”

There are teenagers who love to meet friends outside of school, around the neighbourhoods, in malls, at parties, as well as adults who like to be at the beach or go to adventure sports and take their children. There are other types of people who are more homely.

So, I believe it's important to evaluate each situation and understand what kind of personality we're talking about before saying that technologies are moving people away from in-person connections or that we need to facilitate more meeting spaces for young people. I truly understand everyone’s concerns about the subject, but I like to be more forensic in some issues raised in relation to technology, teenagers, behaviour, education, etc, because it's very easy for us to put everything in a generalist perspective and there are a series of subjectivities to be thought about and explored when we discuss these issues.

WOU: How important is it for young people and children to cultivate empathy and compassion?

DANIELA: Empathy is the ability to perceive, feel and connect with the other (human, animal and, why not, nature?) It's essentially understanding what the other is feeling. As you mentioned before, in a world full of technology, it is normal that things are changing all the time. We change the way in which we consume, produce, learn and, above all, how we relate. Faced with these new scenarios, much is said about the skills of the future (which I also consider to be the skills of our present).

“What do children and young people need to develop to stand out in life?”

In response, we think of soft skills, or "human social skills" that will become increasingly valuable: skills such as empathy, teamwork, context awareness, collaboration and creative thinking will be essential for anyone who wants to stand out in the job market, for example. Children and young people spend more and more time engaged with virtual games and social media, as well as developing technical skills and sometimes leaving social skills a little behind. Skills such as empathy, compassion and collaboration need to be reinforced in everyday life at home and in the school environment. In order to establish a healthy and cooperative society, we need to be attentive to the development of these skills in ourselves and in children and teenagers

WOU: Are there alternative forms of empathy cultivation?

DANIELA: “The most important things a mother does to her baby are not done with words.” - said the psychoanalyst and pediatrician Donald W. Winnicott in a lecture in 1967. Sometimes it can be quite challenging to work on empathy with children. This is because certain skills, such as social and emotional skills, are not developed overnight. That is, they need to be exercised: whether at home, at school, with friends and everywhere.

“My main recommendation would be to start by remembering the importance of example.”

Children who live with empathetic adults are usually able to develop this characteristic more easily. Another fundamental point is to teach children how to understand their own emotions. Before understanding others, it is essential that they first understand what they are feeling, and naming feelings is essential for this.

Resources such as movies, cartoons, comics, books, and music can also be very useful to approach empathy with children and adolescents. They can identify with the characters and the challenges they face. We can also consider online games and their characters in this context. Thus, the experiences that children and adolescents live through the screens can serve as an example and reflection of their own conflicts! This is applicable right from the stage of little infants to young adults. Not only children find it difficult to name their feelings and consequently deal with them. Teenagers have a whirlwind of things going on at the same time and it can be quite chaotic to understand each one of them during adolescence…

WOU: How effective can VR be in terms of enhancing understanding between children from different cultures?

DANIELA: The game is an extremely cultural phenomenon. It's in the game, and through it, that social groups arise, develop, and establish themselves. From this perspective, we can say that the game is one of the oldest activities of human beings. Online games, VR, etc., allow the player to experience, through interactivity, the feeling that their actions, choices, and decisions will influence that fictional world.
 

Umberto Eco in his book, Six Walks Through The Woods of Fiction (1996) - my free translation here on the title of the book - addresses the difference between natural and artificial narrative, between the real and the imaginary, and points out that fiction enchants us because it allows us to perceive the world and reconstitute the past somehow. Psychoanalysis, in general terms, teaches us that we are always seeking to fulfill an unconscious desire through fantasies and our actions toward this. Online games are these worlds invented from fantasies and taken very seriously.

“When you ask me ‘How effective can VR be in terms of enhancing understanding between children from different cultures?’, the first thing I need to reflect on is what culture is.”

I understand that it is a broad concept that represents the set of traditions, beliefs, and customs of a given social group passed on through communication or imitation to subsequent generations. So, I can answer you immediately: yes and a lot. Games are multidimensional and multicultural. The act of playing is part of a sphere that is not the same as what we call reality. However, we cannot say that they are activities devoid of important characteristics for the so-called real life.

WOU: What are the possible negative effects of gaming and VR on young minds/brains?

DANIELA: Excessive access to virtual games, whether violent or not, can cause sleep disturbances, affect growth hormone, school performance, eating and behavioural problems, can also encourage a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. On the other hand, the endless stimulation and instant gratification that games provide in excess can create, among some males, a difficulty in identifying with feelings of compassion, solidarity, stimulate reactive behaviours, trivialise violence and increase aggressiveness leading to video game addiction. I’d like to reinforce that losses in sleep, in the quality of food and even in social relationships are some of the problems related to excessive and problematic use. This is quite different from “addiction” or “dependence”.

“Games don't make people more violent, but research shows that those who play shooting games for instance, can become more numb to aggression than those who don’t.”

As for VR, I would mention nausea, eyestrain and headaches are the most common side effects associated with the use of virtual reality devices. But that doesn't mean everyone will experience one of these symptoms. One explanation for nausea is the confusion that virtual reality causes in the brain. This can occur if someone wears simulator glasses while sitting, for example. As the movement felt is not valid for the entire body, the person becomes nauseous.