Time to Think “Meta”: A Critical Viewpoint on the Risks and Benefits of Virtual Worlds for Mental Health

Abstract

The metaverse is gaining traction in the general population and has become a priority of the technological industry. Defined as persistent virtual worlds that exist in virtual or augmented reality, the metaverse proposes to afford a range of activities of daily life, from socializing and relaxing to gaming, shopping, and working. Because of its scope, its projected popularity, and its immersivity, the metaverse may pose unique opportunities and risks for mental health. In this viewpoint article, we integrate existing evidence on the mental health impacts of video games, social media, and virtual reality to anticipate how the metaverse could influence mental health. We outline 2 categories of mechanisms related to mental health: experiences or behaviors afforded by the metaverse and experiences or behaviors displaced by it. The metaverse may benefit mental health by affording control (over an avatar and its virtual environment), cognitive activation, physical activity, social connections, and a sense of autonomy and competence. However, repetitive rewarding experiences may lead to addiction-like behaviors, and high engagement in virtual worlds may facilitate and perpetuate the avoidance of challenges in the offline environment. Further, time spent in virtual worlds may displace (reduce) other determinants of mental health, such as sleep rhythms and offline social capital. Importantly, individuals will differ in their uses of and psychological responses to the metaverse, resulting in heterogeneous impacts on their mental health. Their technological motivations, developmental stage, sociodemographic context, and prior mental health problems are some of the factors that may modify and frame the positive and negative effects of the metaverse on their mental health. In conclusion, as the metaverse is being scaffolded by the industry and by its users, there is a window of opportunity for researchers, clinicians, and people with lived experience to coproduce knowledge on its possible impacts on mental health and illness, with the hope of influencing policy-making, technological development, and counseling of patients.

Trajectories of Adolescent Media Use and Their Associations With Psychotic Experiences

“…cioeconomic precarity, mental health problems, and interpersonal difficulties may be associated with lower accessibility of other activities within the person's environment, thus reinforcing the preference for video games. 44,45 This understanding of higher video gaming as a response to adversity is consistent with the present observation that mental health and interpersonal problems at age 12 years confounded the association of higher video gaming with PEs.…”

Being in Virtual Reality and Its Influence on Brain Health—An Overview of Benefits, Limitations and Prospects

“…This would be a digital environment for communicating, shopping, educating, working and doing everything that would normally be planned and executed online. Although there are already projects related to this, many neuroscientists, other researchers and experts point to emerging limitations and possible/potential risks [13][14][15]. Figure 2 illustrates this new concept within the framework of the observed subsequent stages of development of information technology (IT) and information and communication technology (ICT) [15,16].…”

Counseling Psychological Understanding and Considerations of the Metaverse: A Theoretical Review

“…The use of the metaverse for mental health has several therapeutic benefits and potential risks. Indeed, the excessive use of digital technologies is not limited to physical symptoms such as vertigo as it also poses risks that cause other mental health problems, such as paranoid thoughts, addiction, depression, and anxiety [ 7 , 21 , 63 ]. Therefore, the research and evaluation of potential mental health harms and alternatives, as well as the multiple benefits of using the metaverse in the therapeutic domain, should be encouraged.…”

“…Also, human-centered design in terms of the mental health system is a major factor that needs to be carefully considered. Establishing a user-centered system environment as a powerful empirical method to integrate practitioners and participants who operate treatment programs and to provide quality treatment with guaranteed effectiveness to all who are participating in the treatment is also a task to be solved together [ 63 , 66 ]. Fourth, multidisciplinary convergence and collaboration are essential for the therapeutic application and utilization of the metaverse in the field of counseling psychology.…”