Ethics of Virtual Reality
Exploring the benefits and detriments virtual reality may have on users
Written by Sophie Corsaro, Contributing Writer
What could be better than a headset that transports you to wherever you want to go? You can do anything and go anywhere from the comfort of your own home, affecting no one but yourself. In theory, virtual reality is a simple form of escapism. Whether it be playing soccer, fighting monsters or learning how to save a life in high pressure situations, virtual reality fully immerses the user into a 3D world that has been created around them (Lowood, 2022). For these users, this contrived reality is the closest one can get to real life without interacting with others.
Recent innovations have introduced many benefits to using virtual reality. Exposure therapy uses virtual reality to expose patients to their phobias while avoiding physical threats. People with agoraphobia and anxiety disorders can benefit from a controlled––yet realistic–– simulation of public life (Terbeck & Lorenz, 2020).
These systems can also help train individuals interested in joining the military or becoming surgeons because it improves their abilities in the field without having to complete risky actions on real people. The reduction of real-life risk can also gauge reactions in dangerous psychological experiments that are not ethical to test in real life (Terbeck & Lorenz, 2020). In virtual reality, these situations can be so realistic that the brain reacts the same to an event that happens in the simulation as in the real world.
Despite virtual reality technically not being a reality, the technology can cause very real psychological damage. Are the psychological repercussions from participating in certain activities too substantial to be made available to the general public?
As virtual reality devices have been made available for at-home use, control over the use of these devices has become limited. This can be especially dangerous for young users without the ability to censor what they are seeing. Developing minds can struggle to grasp the differences between reality and fantasy and may believe their skills in virtual reality directly translate to the real world (Johansson, 2018). People may even start prioritizing their time spent in the virtual world, isolating themselves from the individuals around them.
Virtual reality also can expose children, or anyone for that matter, to extreme violence. Pornography that perpetuates violence against women with so much realism can promote violent behavior to viewers. The accessibility to violent video games may promote behaviors learned from the game in real life (Terbeck & Lorenz, 2020). Users can also experience PTSD from virtual reality because of the simulations, leaving real-life damages (Johansson, 2018). When people kill others or engage in aggressive acts in virtual reality, it can influence their desire to commit these acts in real life too. There is no way to fully monitor the actions of people in this system without violating their privacy, but this lack of control raises concerns about whether virtual reality will provoke people to harm others in real life.
Is it ethical to do bad things in virtual reality because at least you aren’t doing them to real-life people?
Many ethical concerns with virtual reality could be solved by examining the effect of technology and its impacts on people. However, weighing the risks of virtual reality is up to the users of the invention. The issues caused by virtual reality stem from its misuse of it, so defining and limiting the misuse of virtual reality is essential in maximizing its benefits. Figuring out how to protect users and prevent misuse is essential in making sure virtual reality is a positive addition to society.
Sources:
Johansson, A. (2018, April 18). 9 ethical problems with VR we still have to solve. TheNextWeb.
Lowood, H. E. (2022, September 8). virtual reality | Definition, Development, Technology, Examples, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Terbeck, S., & Lorenz, M. (2020, February 11). The Ethics of Realism in Virtual and Augmented Reality. Frontiers