Healthy metaverse: how can we promote health online?

Rapidly developing online technologies that allow users to dive even deeper into virtual reality do not need to contribute to sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy habits.

Digital companies are already investing in new technologies that will offer people the opportunity to dive into the so-called metaverse – a deep augmented virtual reality; a mixture of social media and a massive online video game. Spending more time online connected to the metaverse with gadgets may reduce levels of physical activity and give advertisers many more ways to promote unhealthy products such as junk food, tobacco or alcohol,” explained Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Acting Head of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Office). Jacob, a young video gaming enthusiast from the United Kingdom, shared with WHO his message explaining his vision of promoting healthy diets in the online gaming industry. Similar to social media, popular online video games allow the promotion of unhealthy products, targeting them at children and adolescents while embedding ads directly in gaming environments. Social media have become a major opportunity to promote unhealthy products online because in many countries of the Region this territory is a legal grey zone with no strict rules for advertising. Advances in the area of big data and artificial intelligence have opened new opportunities for monitoring health and fighting NCDs. Governments and decision-makers across the WHO European Region can use the data to control digital environments.