Dr. Efrat Shalvi a researcher in the fields of communications, gender and society at Ono Academic College, was recently interviewed by Israel TV Channel 12’s technology reporter Ben Mittelman about the transformational nature of the Metaverse.  The story provided into a glimpse into the future where, due to the Metaverse technological revolution, reality and the virtual world meet.  One of the questions asked is, “How dangerous is the Metaverse?”

Dr. Efrat Shalvi a researcher in the fields of communications, gender and society at Ono Academic College made the point that “The bottom line is that you get married to a person, not to some kind of avatar. The bottom line is that our kids are human beings. We need to know how to connect with them. This is the fundamental problem with these virtual worlds – they don’t allow us to have real social interaction and they cause us, even more, to close ourselves up in our homes.

Dr. Shalvi worried that our children won’t just see the metaverse’s content, and be influenced by it.  They will find themselves in living in a very realistic but virtual situation that has no end and from which there is no refuge. She suggested that a child who is bullied in school might return home to play a video game where his school mates continue to bully him, realistically, and in his own residence. She worries that our children don’t even have the tools to communicate such experiences to their parents to get support.

To view the entire video clip, click here: