Local consumer watchdog raises concerns about kids using Meta’s Quest 3 VR headset

BOSTON — I adjusted the straps, slid on the headset and stepped into the Metaverse.

It was my first time putting on the Quest 3 headset, Meta’s groundbreaking virtual reality device that takes gaming to a whole new level.

My photographer and I were in a conference room inside MASSPIRG’s downtown Boston office building one day last month. The Quest 3 asked me to look around so it could scan my surroundings. Seconds later, a blue spacecraft crashed through the ceiling and landed on a desk. I craned my neck and could see planets and stars through a jagged hole in the top of the building. I was in awe at the system’s ability to transform office space into an immersive outer space fantasy.

Suddenly, the room was flooded with dozens of colorful little aliens known as “space puffians.” I was playing First Encounters, a Meta-developed first-person shooter for kids. Armed with a cartoonish laser gun, I was on a mission to shoot and capture as many aliens as I could before time expired. The experience was exhilarating.

But then R.J. Cross, a MASSPIRG researcher and online safety advocate, showed us a darker side of the Metaverse. Cross took us into Rec Room, a third-party app that acts as a virtual chatroom and is one of the most popular downloads in the Meta Quest app store. Once in Rec Room, she entered a game called Breaking Point, where live users sit around a table and talk to each other while they play Russian Roulette with a revolver. Cross’s avatar was soon shot and killed by another user that looked like a snowman.

“It is one of the most popular games on Rec Room and it’s one the algorithm recommended for our [hypothetical] 10-year-old to try out,” Cross said.

Cross began raising red flags last year after Meta lowered the Quest 3′s recommended age limit from 13 to ten years old. She detailed her concerns for younger users in MASSPIRG’s 2023 Trouble in Toyland report.

“If Meta recommends [the system] is okay for 10 year olds, parents are going to say my 10 year old is ready for this,” Cross said. “The internet already has ‘stranger danger’ issues, but with VR, everything is a more intense experience. Parents should be aware of what they’re kids are doing and the interactions they’re having on these platforms.”

A Meta spokesperson said the company worked with youth safety experts to make sure the experience is ‘age-appropriate” for teens and pre-teens on the platform.

“Parents must set up parent-managed Meta accounts for 10-12 year olds and they control what apps their preteen can use,” a Meta spokesperson said.

Aside from children accessing more mature content, Cross is also concerned about what the immersive VR technology can have on developing brains.

“One of the biggest things about VR technology is that it’s really new and there’s not a bunch of research out there yet,” Cross said. “If you use this stuff enough over a long enough period, it may actually cause the brain to rewire itself in unpredictable ways, and that raises a lot of questions when it comes to kids using this technology.”

Meta admits there’s not a lot of research on the effects of virtual reality on young people.

“The majority of the research available on the impact of technology on children and adolescents’ psychological development has focused on 2D screens and digital gaming, as well as social media,” a Meta spokesperson said. “There is a growing body of research examining the positive effects of VR, including interventions to support the development of social competence skills and to support specific skill development in specialized populations (for example, younger people with cerebral palsy).”

Cross recommends children use VR headsets in an open space where parents can see and hear what’s going on.

“If your child is going to use one of these headsets, have it happen in a communal space where you can hear the interactions they’re having with others and make sure everything seems appropriate,” Cross said.

Cross also says children should start slow with shorter sessions, stopping every 15 minutes to give their eyes a rest. Parents may also want to consider limiting their children to one or two hours of virtual reality a week.

“You want to keep it limited because the more you use it, the more it’s likely to have some impact on your brain and psychological development,” she said.

Here’s a link to the Meta Quest Parent Guide provided by the company.

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