On a recent afternoon at the House of Lords, I had the privilege of addressing policymakers, industry leaders, and advocates on a subject that is close to my heart: the intersection of child protection, psychology, and emerging technology. As a psychotherapist, researcher, and founder of My Guardian Global, I have witnessed both the extraordinary promise and the urgent risks that immersive technologies like the metaverse present for children.
Below is the full transcript of my speech, which I hope will spark further conversation and action.
Good afternoon. I’m Nina Jane Patel—a psychotherapist, researcher, and founder of My Guardian Global - where I work with children, their families, schools and communities to support them to thrive.
As a subject matter expert in VR, I’ve also trained law enforcement and advised global organizations on how to prevent and respond to emerging technology-facilitated abuse and exploitation.
My work sits at the intersection of psychology, child protection, and emerging technology.
In the next 10 minutes, I’ll take you through the realities of the metaverse for children—its extraordinary promise, and its very real risks. We’ll hear what excites young people, confront the dangers they face, and examine how research and industry are responding.
Notice how the metaverse is coming to life for this child —
The metaverse is transforming technology from something we hold in our hands to something that surrounds us.
The metaverse is a collective, shared space, created by the convergence of VR, AR, and the internet, which becomes an embodied internet or a physical internet.
Let’s take a quick look at how we got here:
1883: Stereoscopy was invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone. He demonstrated that the brain combines two slightly different images from each eye to perceive depth, and he built the first stereoscope to view such images.
Early military applications of immersive tech.
1992: The term “metaverse” was popularized by Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel *Snow Crash*.
2016: VR becomes commercially available.
2021: Facebook rebrands as Meta, signaling a new era.
2023: Apple launches spatial computing.
2024/2025: Smart glasses enter the mainstream.
Immersive technologies present both unique opportunities and challenges for children, whose developing minds and bodies engage with digital environments in ways that are fundamentally different.
When a child puts on a VR headset, she enters a world that she can see, hear, feel, potentially smell, and even taste - Engaging all five senses—from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
The quality of her experience depends on three interconnected factors:
When she puts on a VR headset, her journey into a new world begins with *immersion*.
She will be surrounded by sights and sounds that are awe-inspiring.
The room she was in fades away, or is digitally enhanced with vibrant colors, exciting sounds, and interactive objects. She might hear birds singing overhead, someone call her name from behind her, see a familiar face, the technical fidelity of the experience is such that she cannot tell what may physical and what may be virtual. Or what is made of atoms and what is made of pixels.
As she explores, she will experience *presence*. She won’t just see the virtual world; she will believe she is truly inside it. If a friendly animal approaches, she might giggle and try to pet it.
If something surprising happens, like a sudden rainstorm or a dragon flying overhead, she might instinctively duck or look for shelter. She feels like she is part of the world, adventure, not just watching it from the outside.
As she moves her hands, her head, her legs to jump, leap or dance, her actions are seamlessly translated into the virtual world. She experiences the virtual body as her own.
This sense of *embodiment* encourages her to engage even more, to reach out, to explore, her heart rate quickens, she starts to breath faster, she sees her hands—perhaps transformed into superhero gloves or animal paws—responding exactly as her brain intends.
This is no longer a game.
This is where the Virtual Reality Risks Against Children (VIRRAC) report comes in. Recognizing both the promise and the complexities of VR for children, there is a growing need for clear, evidence-based guidance.
Developed with the leadership of Prof Davidson, UEL's Institute for Connected Communities, drawing on my experience and expertise, for which I acted as lead advisor, and colleagues at Middlesex University, and funded by rephrain,
We set out to conduct child-centred research---
Children love the metaverse for its creativity and connection: meeting friends worldwide, building their own spaces, and becoming anything, they imagine. This technology unlocks excitement and limitless possibility.
But their fears are real—bullying, strangers, and losing control.
Major brands such as Disney, LEGO, Epic Games, Apple, Meta, and Amazon are rapidly developing commercial, profit-driven virtual worlds.
These companies are pioneering new ways to blend entertainment, creativity, and commerce, creating immersive platforms where children can play, watch, create, and shop.
By leveraging data about children’s behaviors and physiological responses, they can deliver highly personalized experiences and targeted marketing, making these virtual worlds more engaging.
Fully immersed, present, fully embodied experiences and fully monetized.
Risks are rapidly intensifying. With AI now capable of generating lifelike content and automating AI algorithms for harm, children will be targeted by predators in these fun new worlds.
Gaming platforms, connected devices (IoT), AI, wearables devices, smart homes, and new tokenomics models/digital assets, all expand the number of ways children can be vulnerable.
VIRRAC has taken important steps to address these challenges, grounded in the voices and experiences of children between 8 and 16. However, much more work remains to be done.
For example, in my upcoming research paper—a systematic review of virtual reality in early childhood (0-8)—our findings show that overwhelmingly the literature focuses on the positive applications of VR.
Not a single study examines the developmental or long-term impacts of VR on young children.
Even more concerning is the complete lack of research on commercial uses of VR—areas where most children actually spend their time. This leaves a significant gap - This gap desperately and urgently needs to be addressed.
Right now, we are standing on the edge of something as powerful—and as unpredictable—as fire.
My greatest fear is that we underestimate the power of this technology and fail to protect those who matter most.
If we choose to listen and to put children’s wellbeing at the center, we have a hope that this new world does not simply generate new business models that profit from children’s activities and expose children to humanity's greatest harms.
It could become a space that nurtures, protects, and empowers.
Thank you.
