New Harms Moderated by Immersive Experiences and Breaks in Them

TL;DR

This paper explores how immersive experiences can both enhance social interactions and cause harm, emphasizing the importance of understanding presence, immersion levels, and breaks to mitigate negative effects.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of harms moderated by presence and discusses the significance of breaks and immersion levels in immersive environments.

Findings

Presence intensifies both positive and negative experiences.

Breaks in presence can mitigate harm but are not well understood.

Thresholds between harm and safe immersion need further exploration.

Abstract

This proposal highlights the potential real-world consequences of harmful experiences in immersive and embodied spaces due to presence, which moderates experiences, intensifying positive or negative content. While positive experiences enhance social interactions, negative content can lead to harm. Also, presence is not continuous and may break. Understanding the threshold between harmful experiences and breaks in presence is essential. This proposal underscores the need to explore whether the level of immersion or the nature of harm defines the boundary, emphasizing key discussion points for the workshop.