Week 12 Response

My first question was:
For my research project, I studied children’s interaction with the media. In these websites, we are reading about people have virtual worlds with their churches. Will this stretch out into schools? How will children be affected by virtual reality, specifically in an educational environment?

I think that this is entirely possible with all the new online college and even high schools. We already have homeschooling for elementary schools and it’s really only a few steps away to add in virtual elementary schools. This can be both positive and negative depending on the parental supervision and the motivation behind the schooling. Some kids may work better from home and at their own pace and be more productive, whereas other children may just goof off and play instead of studying.

My next question was: What makes virtual worlds a new idea, separate from other digital environments like video games? How can I relate this to how children will relate to media in the upcoming years?

Virtual environments are very similar to the idea of video games but are taken a step further. Virtual reality is putting imagination into action. In video games, the user becomes the little icon character inside the game, only in their mind. In a virtual reality world, the user’s imagination is not put to work as much and the user is simply given the world around them to react in. This world is customizable, yes, but the imagination is always more infinite in it’s scenarios than a game could provide.
Some would argue, which is better? I think that virtual reality is certainly the newer, more fascinating one right now. But video games had the same wonder and awe when they first came out too.

My third question was:
Is the virtual reality world revolution going to bring about positive or negative affects in children’s interactions with media? Maybe both?

I think this answer is pretty obvious. And that is that with all types of media there is going to be both postivie and negative consequences. It all comes down to the healthy use of or unhealthy abuse of the content. That is up to the user and (depending on age group) the user’s parental supervision. The story that we watched in class about the 16 year old boy so addicted to online gaming that his mother is “scared”, to me, is just ridiculous. There is no way I would just let me son take over and tell me how much time he’s going to spend on the internet and gaming. If I own the house, the computer he’s using, and him (legally- by responsibility purposes), then he will follow my rules. A 16 yr old is still a child in my opinion and needs the continued guidance that a child would receive. Therefore, I feel that this is the same for other forms of virtual reality. An adult is responsible for his or her use or abuse of it. And a parent is likewise responsible for his or her child.