Making Extended Reality Safe and Secure for Teenagers with ParGuard

Agasthya Gangavarapu

Abstract: Extended Reality (XR) is expected to grow exponentially with significant investments from big tech companies such as Meta and the introduction of related and supporting new technologies such as web3, blockchain, etc. Like other technologies, most of the discussion and analysis is focused on the positive benefits of XR technologies and systems at the inception stage. If history was any guide, then the negative impacts of XR technologies with ultra-personalization capabilities and advanced immersive technologies are likely to be much worse, especially for teenagers. Based on the current direction of regulations and laws related to the use of technologies, including social media and XR, the current expectation is that parents ‘regulate’ the usage of the technologies and nudge their teenage children away from the ill effects of XR technologies [1] . This is an unreasonable expectation and an onerous burden placed on the parents given personalized algorithms and the fast-changing nature of the underlying technologies. ParGuard, a smartphone-based app system, is designed to help parents to navigate through a maze of technologies and ultra-personalization algorithms, and guard children from the ill effects of new technologies.