Last week, my friend and colleague Ben Kuchera posted a video on Polygon about the hidden danger of virtual reality: leaning on a fake desk and falling on your tuchus. I admit, I still giggle at the image of a grown man wearing an expensive virtual reality headset, tethered to a loudly humming computer, dropping to the floor and bruising his tushie.
But I’ve wondered, since I watched the video, just how common this problem is — or how common it will be when virtual reality headsets spread to consumer in the coming months.
A GIF published to Reddit by Arsanus answers my question. A child, struggling to wear the large headset, searches through a virtual desk drawer that can be seen on a computer monitor in the background. Then the child leans over a virtual desk, and crashes to the floor.
This child is a hero. Seriously, y’all. This child learned the hard lesson — that virtual tables can’t hold real weight — so that the GIF might serve as a warning to future children and adults alike. Heed this warning, or one day this could be you. And a friendly reminder, virtual reality is not designed for young children. Practice VR with caution, everybody.
/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6175283/vr-fall.gif)
I’m including Kuchera’s video so you can hear his explanation of the problem, which is delightful. And here’s a link to the full GIF.
This post first appeared on The Verge.