This is an earlier version of an article I wrote for The Conversation.

Digital technologies have
made their way into all the aspects of our lives that, according to psychology,
influence our wellbeing -- everything from social relationships and curiosity
to engagement and learning. The press
keeps us anxious about the negative impacts of using internet technologies with
regular articles on always-on stress and suggestions for coping. Psychiatrists are in the process of adding "Internet
Addiction” to their official Diagnostic Manual on Mental Illness. (see inclusion of Internet Addiction in
the DSM-5).
But we are less aware of how these same technologies can be used to improve mental health problems, or how they might help all of us live happier psychologically healthier lives. Researchers have begun to investigate how Internet technologies like e-mail and social media platforms like Facebook could support young people in crisis, adults suffering from depression, and to help smartphone users to be more mindful.
But we are less aware of how these same technologies can be used to improve mental health problems, or how they might help all of us live happier psychologically healthier lives. Researchers have begun to investigate how Internet technologies like e-mail and social media platforms like Facebook could support young people in crisis, adults suffering from depression, and to help smartphone users to be more mindful.
These emergent efforts
come just as we are seeing technology, psychology and neuroscience converge. On
the one hand, engineers are getting more involved in issues of human emotion,
values and wellbeing, recognising the need for it, and the science, behind it. On the other hand, there is an emerging interest among mental health
professionals to figure out how technology can be used, not only to treat
illness, but also for a larger mission to promote optimum
mental health in everyone.
At the University of
Sydney we’ve just begun a three-year project in collaboration with the Young
and Well Cooperative Research Centre, in which we will conduct research to
inform the development of an online clinic, a semi-automated triage system and
an online hub where young people can download tools and applications to help
them improve their wellbeing. The Young and Well CRC is engaging in
multidisciplinary approaches that bring software specialists together with
psychologists and other mental health experts to create novel technologies specially
designed to promote mental health.
The Young and Well CRC is not alone. An increasing number
of engineers and computer scientists are working, within multidisciplinary
teams, on systems that promote prosocial behaviours such as altruism, empathy,
resilience and mindfulness. In a recent study published in PLOS One, a team at
Stanford, led by Jeremy Bailenson, used Augmented Virtual reality games to
develop helping behaviors (ie. altruism). Half of the 60 participants who completed
the study were given the virtual power to fly like Superman (the ‘superhero’
condition), while the other half flew in a virtual helicopter. In the two by
two design, participants in each of these groups were also allocated to either
helping to find a lost sick child or tour a virtual city.
At the end of the VR experience participants were confronted by someone who needs help (the dependent behavioural condition). The results showed that those in the Superhero condition were significantly more likely to help and helped more than those in the other conditions. Although the Stanford researchers hypothesized that the embodied experience of helping facilitated the transfer of this behaviour to the real-world other studies have shown similar correlations between ‘positive’ prosocial games and prosocial behaviours with lower tech immersion.
Yellowslee and Cook of UC Davis created a virtual psychiatry clinic in Second Life which promotes empathy for people with serious mental illness. By touring the clinic participants can experience first hand the auditory and visual hallucinations associated with psychosis. The majority of over 500 voluntary visitors to the clinic who responded to their survey said it helped them better understand this experience.
At the end of the VR experience participants were confronted by someone who needs help (the dependent behavioural condition). The results showed that those in the Superhero condition were significantly more likely to help and helped more than those in the other conditions. Although the Stanford researchers hypothesized that the embodied experience of helping facilitated the transfer of this behaviour to the real-world other studies have shown similar correlations between ‘positive’ prosocial games and prosocial behaviours with lower tech immersion.
Yellowslee and Cook of UC Davis created a virtual psychiatry clinic in Second Life which promotes empathy for people with serious mental illness. By touring the clinic participants can experience first hand the auditory and visual hallucinations associated with psychosis. The majority of over 500 voluntary visitors to the clinic who responded to their survey said it helped them better understand this experience.

Research such as this, together with case studies from
around the world, will be described in a forthcoming book I am co-authoring
with digital designer, Dorian Peters from the University of Sydney. The book, Positive
Computing: Technology for a Better World (to be published in 2014 by MIT
Press) outlines the landscape of “Positive Computing”, an emerging field of
research and practice dedicated to the investigation and design of technologies
that support psychological wellbeing and human potential. We believe that this research will bring
together research and methodologies well-established in psychology,
engineering, education and neuroscience, to begin a new era of digital
experiences that are deeply human-centred.
It was Aristotle that said all our efforts in life are ultimately about seeking wellbeing – shouldn’t designers of technology be our allies on this journey?