Is 3D Safe for Kids

I was answering a question in the SL Forum about 3D and Second Life. The involved people seemed short on  info about how 3D works for single screens. So, I was looking for a good explanation of the state of the tech. I came across an article at Tech Crunch.

Title: A Guide to 3D Display Technology: Its Principles, Methods, and Dangers

The word ‘dangers’ caught my attention. How can 3D be dangerous? This is a 2010 article. But, it points out the nature of the human visual system and brain and what fooling it with 3D displays does. Something I had never heard of or thought about.

It seems people coming out of long 3D movies are having problems with depth perception. Oh fun! More incompetent drivers on the road.

The real problem pointed out is for young children. We really have no studies or solid data on the effect. But, the points made in the article seems intuitive, which doesn’t make them right. But, it is a serious consideration for those raising young children and exposing them to 3D TV and games.

Apparently this is enough of a problem that Samsung posted this warning on their site:

READ THE FOLLOWING WARNINGS BEFORE YOU OR YOUR CHILD USE THE 3D FUNCTION.

Update: See VR Matrix Disassociation from Real Life.

 

3 thoughts on “Is 3D Safe for Kids

  1. Yes, certainly 3D applications change our perception of depth.

    This happens for mainly two things.

    The first thing is that our eyes arent looking at the same direction.
    The second is that our eyes are focussing the wrong distance.

    Wen we use 3D glasses our sight spread or get more closed depending of the 3D effect. This give us a depth feel, but our eyes arent really focussing more “near” or “far”. We are focussing always at the same distance. This can make our eyes to get used to spread to see things that are far but keep focussing a way near than the object really is (due te habit of a screen being near than the objects inside really are). In others words, you will look far but will see things kinda blurry for not being fucussing the right point.

    On kids is a bit “dangerous” mostly because while they grow they should have their sight healthy and not doing “weird” stuff. Also not so good if even older people keep on it too much time.

    Anyway, seems that there will be better solutions soon. Actually there are various devices that can detect where are you looking exactly. This kind of devices started as some kind of “virtual mouse” for PCs, but they will probably end on virtual reality devices. Whi this, depending of where the eye is looking (if near or far) the device will be able to detect and make a correction on the lenses. This sounds maybe weird or confusing, but just imagine a pair of 3D glasses that goes out of focuss when you try to look something to near just like RL does.

    I love tech 😀

  2. Pingback: More Second Life Oculus Rift | Nalates' Things & StuffNalates’ Things & Stuff

  3. Pingback: VR Matrix Disassociation from Real Life | Nalates' Things & StuffNalates’ Things & Stuff

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