Tech's Human Impact Concerns: Market for Digital Wellbeing, VR Therapy & Ethical AI.
Public worries in a conversation with a developmental psychologist highlight concerns about AI dependency, cognitive impacts (like diminished reasoning and comprehension), dopamine addiction from devices, AI's role in mental health issues (such as psychosis and depression), the potential for AI to spread misinformation and create collective panic, the use of VR for trauma therapy, and significant fears of job displacement due to AI.
This opens up opportunities for:
- Digital Wellbeing and Cognitive Fitness Tools: Services and platforms designed to manage AI dependency, promote critical thinking skills in an AI-saturated world, and help users regulate their digital consumption to counteract dopamine addiction.
- Therapeutic Technology, especially VR/AR: Development of immersive VR/AR applications for mental health, focusing on areas like trauma therapy, anxiety reduction, and exposure therapy, directly addressing user interest.
- Ethical AI Frameworks and Misinformation Defense: Consulting services for businesses on responsible AI deployment, alongside the creation of tools and educational programs to identify and combat AI-generated misinformation and build societal trust.
- Future-Proof Skilling and Career Adaptation Platforms: Initiatives focused on reskilling and upskilling the workforce to adapt to AI-driven job market changes, emphasizing human-AI collaboration and identifying resilient career paths.
- Child-Centric Tech Development and Guidance: Creation of technology and educational resources that specifically consider the neurological and psychological development of children, offering guidance for parents on safe and beneficial tech use.
Marketing can focus on solutions that proactively address these worries, empower individuals to navigate the evolving tech landscape, mitigate negative impacts, and harness technology for positive psychological outcomes and societal benefit.
Origin Reddit Post
r/futurology
What would you like to know from a developmental psychologist studying the effects of tech on humans?
Posted by u/Just_Definition6534•05/29/2025
Conducting a podcast this week. What would you like to know? Posting here to ask how AI and VR might affect ue neurologically.
P.S. What are somethings you dislike about podcasts? Do you
Top Comments
u/Joeclu
Is there any effort in coming up with an equation that demonstrates the trade-off between humans depending on tech and the ability of humans to survive without tech?
How many humans can skin
u/themrsidey
You’re right, every advancement of technology makes us dependent on new routines. But they also afford independence from the previous rigour. I may be digressing off topic here, but if all of
u/happypopcorn69
Thanks for noticing! I am fully aware of the irony aspect. It's almost poetic! xD
u/Practical_Warthog324
Given the constant flow of dopamine we get from our phones, are we all effectively addicts going through withdrawals anytime we look up from our phones?
u/Joeclu
Is there any effort in coming up with an equation that demonstrates the trade-off between humans depending on tech and the ability of humans to survive without tech?
How many humans can skin
u/crymachine
How does society overall treat unemployed and impoverished people? Are they sheltered? Are they fed? Are they given enough welfare to live well? Is anyone making philanthropist movements to e
u/GravidDusch
I mean, they're good questions but all a bit bland I think.
I would like them to address some of the issues we have seen developing recently like AI induced psychosis (the whole consciousne
u/Individual-Door4005
I want to like this comment 100 times
u/Sweet-Leadership-290
What is the most secure job / field / profession for me to navigate into that will ensure that I will not be replaced by a robot / AI within the next 30 years?
u/GravidDusch
Bro wrote a question about AI dependency using AI..
u/Sweet-Leadership-290
What is the most secure job / field / profession for me to navigate into that will ensure that I will not be replaced by a robot / AI within the next 30 years?
u/themrsidey
I feel AI, at least the little that I use, makes me feel smarter. Better able to navigate all of the information and make sense only of the stuff I need. It would be interesting to know how t
u/Royal_Carpet_1263
If humans are eusocial, a species so interdependent as to form a superorganism, in this case, one consisting of billions of cells, what do you imagine the consequences of injecting billions o
u/mattcmoore
Why does it make people so depressed, and if it's powerful enough to make people depressed, like physiologically depressed, could it also cause positive or even therapeutic changes in our bra
u/0K_-_-
Effect of neuro-integrative tech on cerebrospinal and neurological health.
u/yepsayorte
I would like to know what, if any, neurological effects either tech has. I have no idea so any true information would be interesting. A bit on how it might impact child development might be g
u/crymachine
It'll be undermined by capitalism and used to make you dependent on a subscription model, make it easier to lie and lead you in any direction, and it'll continue to dull your reading comprehe
u/crymachine
The only useful ai features are just features that should've been dedicated to accessibility and improving the life of those less able than most to navigate the world and technology. Instead
u/crymachine
How does society overall treat unemployed and impoverished people? Are they sheltered? Are they fed? Are they given enough welfare to live well? Is anyone making philanthropist movements to e
u/themrsidey
You’re right, every advancement of technology makes us dependent on new routines. But they also afford independence from the previous rigour. I may be digressing off topic here, but if all of
u/Patch-VO
I’d love to tune in on said podcast. That being said, is there a use case for VR being used to treat trauma survivors to help them cope with life after. Is it possible to do limited exposure
u/happypopcorn69
## Core AI Dependency Questions
**"Have you observed any cases of what might be called 'AI dependency' in your research - where individuals develop psychological reliance on AI systems that
u/Practical_Warthog324
Given the constant flow of dopamine we get from our phones, are we all effectively addicts going through withdrawals anytime we look up from our phones?
u/Tonhuz
Since the police is required to have a cam on with them all the time, what is the psycholgical toll it has on their mind? to be constantly watch, every movement, word or action they do.
I k
u/0K_-_-
Effect of neuro-integrative tech on cerebrospinal and neurological health.
u/crymachine
The only useful ai features are just features that should've been dedicated to accessibility and improving the life of those less able than most to navigate the world and technology. Instead
u/the01crow
Is there any indication of evidence of loss of reasoning by using AI to make it think and analyze for you?
Can AI generate collective panic with the generation of increasingly perfect videos
u/themrsidey
I feel AI, at least the little that I use, makes me feel smarter. Better able to navigate all of the information and make sense only of the stuff I need. It would be interesting to know how t
u/Tonhuz
Since the police is required to have a cam on with them all the time, what is the psycholgical toll it has on their mind? to be constantly watch, every movement, word or action they do.
I k
u/happypopcorn69
## Core AI Dependency Questions
**"Have you observed any cases of what might be called 'AI dependency' in your research - where individuals develop psychological reliance on AI systems that
u/the01crow
Is there any indication of evidence of loss of reasoning by using AI to make it think and analyze for you?
Can AI generate collective panic with the generation of increasingly perfect videos
u/yepsayorte
I would like to know what, if any, neurological effects either tech has. I have no idea so any true information would be interesting. A bit on how it might impact child development might be g
u/crymachine
It'll be undermined by capitalism and used to make you dependent on a subscription model, make it easier to lie and lead you in any direction, and it'll continue to dull your reading comprehe
u/mattcmoore
Why does it make people so depressed, and if it's powerful enough to make people depressed, like physiologically depressed, could it also cause positive or even therapeutic changes in our bra
u/Patch-VO
I’d love to tune in on said podcast. That being said, is there a use case for VR being used to treat trauma survivors to help them cope with life after. Is it possible to do limited exposure
u/Individual-Door4005
I want to like this comment 100 times
u/happypopcorn69
Thanks for noticing! I am fully aware of the irony aspect. It's almost poetic! xD
u/GravidDusch
Bro wrote a question about AI dependency using AI..
u/GravidDusch
I mean, they're good questions but all a bit bland I think.
I would like them to address some of the issues we have seen developing recently like AI induced psychosis (the whole consciousne