How can adolescents and young people be helped to identify situations of violence that often go unnoticed or are normalised? This is one of the questions addressed by V-TOOLS, a social innovation project from Barcelona that has developed «If you don't live it, you don't feel it», an educational initiative that uses virtual reality to work on violence prevention through experience and collective reflection.
The proposal transports participants to everyday situations involving school harassment, cyberbullying, or controlling behaviour in relationships. Using virtual reality headsets, they can observe events from different perspectives: the person suffering the violence, the perpetrator, or a bystander who does not intervene.
Beyond Technology: An Educational Experience
The project's value lies not only in technological immersion but also in the accompanying pedagogical methodology. After viewing the experiences, participants engage in group dynamics guided by socio-educational professionals, analysing the observed behaviours, identifying forms of violence, and reflecting on possible responses.
This combination of virtual reality and educational support aims to foster empathy, critical thinking, and the detection of behaviours often considered normal. The experiences are designed to provoke questions and generate conversations that can be difficult to address with more conventional methodologies.
Virtual reality does not replace education: it opens new ways to feel, understand, and reflect on violence.
Over 6,000 Participants
Between 2023 and 2026, V-TOOLS reached over 6,000 adolescents and professionals, with more than 350 sessions developed and activities in over 20 municipalities. The project has been implemented in educational centres and other awareness-raising spaces, in collaboration with public administrations and social entities.
The initiative offers various access formats, from in-person immersive sessions with virtual reality headsets to a digital platform that allows viewing the experiences and working with them using pedagogical materials. This flexibility facilitates the adaptation of activities to the needs of educational centres and organisations.
Technology for Social Transformation
V-TOOLS also develops immersive content adapted to other social realities, such as discrimination, sexual harassment, and LGTBI-phobic violence. Its methodology combines immersive audiovisual production, technological knowledge, and socio-educational experience to create awareness-raising tools for different groups.
With «If you don't live it, you don't feel it», V-TOOLS proposes a different way of approaching prevention: it's not just about explaining what violence is, but about generating experiences that help recognise it, question it, and understand the importance of acting in the face of such situations.
The initiative highlights the potential of immersive technologies when applied for social and educational purposes, turning virtual reality into a resource for opening conversations, promoting coexistence, and contributing to building more respectful and violence-free environments.
