New Nintendo 3DS Not Safe For Kids Under Six. Really Nintendo?

February 07, 2011, By Christopher Ford 0 comments

The Nintendo DS is the current small, hand held video gaming system from Nintendo that hasn't changed that much from when it was first introduced in 2004. The newest version, the Nintendo 3DS has a similar form factor, but it will give gamers the opportunity to view their games in 3-D without 3-D glasses. Unlike your television, because the screen is so small Nintendo is able to use a 3-D technology that will work with the naked eye. I haven't seen one yet, but I have to admit it sounds very cool.

I won't have to wait for very long, because the Nintendo 3DS is about to hit store shelves on March 27th. But before you run out to get one for yourself (I mean, "your kids"), there's an interesting wrinkle that all parents should know about. Recently, Nintendo announced on their Japanese website (see the Google translation here) that children six years and under shouldn't view the new Nintendo 3DS while it's in 3-D mode. The general idea behind it being that children's eyes are developing, and the eye fatigue one gets from watching the 3-D images could be permanently damaging to the eyes of children. The 3DS can however be used in a regular 2-D mode, so kids six and under should use it in 2-D mode. Nintendo has even introduced parental controls to help in this effort.

Well, anyone with kids can already imagine where this is going. Can you really expect your kid NOT to look at the 3-D images on the 3DS while you (or their older brother or sister) are using it? Are most parents going to use the parental controls - or even know how to figure out the parental controls - to keep their kids from using the 3-D functionality of the 3DS? It all seems like a losing battle, and for the parent with a kid under seven-years-old in the house, maybe it's better to skip the Nintendo 3DS all together.

But not so fast. Eye doctors are disagreeing with Nintendo's guidelines. The American Academy of Ophthalmologists said in a press statement that not only are there no studies on how digital 3-D might affect children, there are also no "persuasive, conclusive theories on how 3-D digital products could cause damage in children with healthy eyes." Oh, and no matter what Nintendo says, the development of normal 3-D vision is "largely complete by age three years."

So what gives? Why would Nintendo recommend something that one of the largest international group of eye doctors says is something you don't need to worry about for kids who already have healthy eyes. Nintendo isn't saying anything beyond their statement, and if I had to speculate, I'd say it's a classic case of CYA (cover your ass). No one has ever produced a 3-D product for children on a scale like this. And even if it is 100 percent safe for kids' eyes, you know eventually someone is going to come up with a lawsuit to try to get some money out of Nintendo. The interesting thing about this to me is, the calculation Nintendo has come up with is that it would be better to potentially damage their sales numbers with a statement (that doctors don't even agree with) than to deal with the eventual lawsuit this product may or may not spawn.

So what should parents do? If I had a child in the house that was three years or younger and I couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't bug me 24/7 about looking at the 3-D video on the 3DS, then I probably wouldn't get one. However, I'm going to trust the physicians on this one. If my four-year-old happens to get her hands on one any time soon, I'll let her check it out. I'll just make sure she doesn't look at it for any long lengths of time. But then again, I don't let her use any game device for long periods of time.

But then again (again), not much of anything keeps her attention for long periods of time.