"I felt like a marine organism": Exploring Underwater Virtual Reality Experiences and Their Potential to Foster Ocean Connectedness

Direct contact with the ocean plays a crucial role in cultivating ocean connectedness, a relationship that can mitigate harmful human impacts on marine ecosystems. However, access to the ocean is limited by geographic distance, socio-economic factors, and physical ability. Even coastal residents experience only a small portion of the ocean close to the surface and to the coast. Immersive technologies can bridge this gap. With underwater virtual reality (UVR), users are equipped with a waterproof VR headset while floating in water, offering double immersion . Early studies suggest that UVR triggers powerful emotions and ocean connectedness. Yet, little is known about which factors triggered by double immersion contribute to ocean connectedness. Semi-structured interviews with 39 Science Festival participants, conducted immediately after their UVR dive, were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis, capturing nuanced, dynamic narratives of their experiences. The result showed that presence emerged as a central theme. This sense of presence was enabled by suspension of disbelief and vection, each made possible by the technological affordances of double immersion. Presence, in turn, elicited a variety of realistic responses. The participants’ accounts of their UVR experience reveal alignment with ocean connectedness. This study demonstrates that the participants consider the activity as an ocean experience, suggesting heightened ocean connectedness. This study introduces the first theoretical model of how UVR influences the psychological, technological, and physical factors at play. The results indicate that through double immersion, UVR can foster ocean connectedness by eliciting suspension of disbelief, vection, presence, and realistic responses. • Underwater virtual reality combines virtual reality with floating in water • Underwater virtual reality triggers presence and realistic responses • Underwater virtual reality can promote ocean connectedness • Users of Underwater virtual reality consider the activity as an ocean experience